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Forty Years 

AT 

El Paso 

1858—1898 



Recollections of War, Politics, Adventure, 
Events, Narratives, Sketches, Etc. 



BY 

W. W. MILLS 



7 > J J , 



\ ^ } ' ' .' J * J ' > ' > > J - > 

J ^ ) • ' ' ' 3 'j ' J ' J > > ) J ' J » ' 

'Around my fire a friendly group to draw 
And tell of all I felt and all I saw. " 



THE LIBRARY QF 
Two OofiOi RhC£ivt3 

FEB. t4 ^202 

CLASS c^:'XXo. ♦*>*. 
';!- -J. S" T- / 
COPY a 



Copyright. 1901, 

BY 

W. W. MILLS. 






...TO... 

Mary Hamilton Mills 



A Warning. 



These writings are meant to be truthful, but they are 
too rambHng and egotistical to possess much historical 
value. Few subjects are treated of except such as the 
writer was personally connected with or in which he felt 
a special interest. Much that he was tempted to write 
has been omitted out of consideration for the living and 
the dead and their relations. 

The book will have little interest except for those who 
know something of El Paso or of the men and events 
treated of, or of the writer himself. 

For such only is it written. 

W, W. Mills. 

El Paso, 
November, iqoi. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

El Paso in 1858 13 

Roster of Ante-bellum Residents of El Paso 18 

Incidents Before the War and Early Impressions 22 

Murder and Robbery of Giddings' Store (Sheldon Block). . . , 36 

The Canby-Sibley Campaign in 1861-62 38 

The Battle of Valverde , 56 

Captain Moore 61 

A Story Without a Moral 64 

Benjamin S. Dowell 65 

Brad. Daily 68 

John Lemon 11 

"Bob" Crandall as a Damphool 73 

Robbery of My House in 1865 — Indian Trailers 74 

Attempt at Assassination in 1867 — A M3^stery 77 

Fate of My Custom-House Deputies 79 

Change of Customs District — Samuel J. Jones (1863). . 80 

Captains Skillman and French 82 

Furnishing Arms to Mexico — 1865 85 

President Juarez' Government at Ciudad Juarez, Near El 

Paso— 1865-66 88 

A Visit to Washington — Political Contests 89 

Reconstruction — Constitutional Convention of 1868-69 94 

Hamilton-Davis Contest of 1869 — Adoption of Constitution. . 100 

Marriage and Journey to My El Paso Home 102 

Assault by Kuhn at Fredericksburg 108 

Third Voyage Over the Plains — Enemies and Plots 110 

9 



10 CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

A. J. Fountain — My Worst Enemy 114 

Arrest at San Elezario — Assault by Atkinson 117 

From El Paso to Austin — Stage Drivers 119 

Some Texas Lawyers 122 

Litigation About El Paso Property 126 

"Star " Mail Contracts— The First Trust— 1869-70 131 

Victorio, the Great Apache General 136 

The Killing of Clarke and Williams— The Causes— 1870 138 

The Cardis- Howard Feud— The Mob at San Elezario, 1877. . 142 

The Bloody Reign of Marshal Studemeier 154 

Longmeier — A Close Call 159 

A Hold-Up 160 

The Union Men of the South 163 

Enemies and Philosophy 165 



pORTY Years at El Paso. 



I was born on a farm near Thorntown, Indiana, in 
1836, and labored alongside of my father and brothers and 
the hired men during the crop season, attending the vil- 
lage school during the winter months, till I was seventeen 
years old, when my father sent me for two years to an 
academy in New York State. While there he secured for 
me an appointment as a cadet at the Military Academy at 
West Point, but I gave way to my brother, Anson Mills, 
•w^ho is now a Brigadier General in the United States 
army. After returning home for a year, I came to 
Texas with my brother Anson. We came down the Mis- 
sissippi at the time of the great flood in 1857, to New 
Orleans, and thence up the Red River to Jefferson, Texas. 
From Jefferson we walked to McKinney, in Collin 
County, where my brother had previously resided, and I 
secured a school at Pilot Grove, in Grayson County, and 
spent a year there happily, and, I trust, usefully. Dur- 
ing that year my brother was appointed surveyor on the 
part of Texas to the joint commission which located 
the boundary line between Texas and the United States, 
Col. William R. Scurry being the commissioner on the 
part of Texas. 

At the suggestion of my brother, I joined this expedi- 
tion at Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River, and 
accompanied it to El Paso. When we arrived at Waco 
Tanks, twenty-six miles east of El Paso, we failed to 
find water, and were somewhat distressed in consequence. 

11 



12 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

Colonel Scurry said that young men on foot could make 
the trip to El Paso for relief better than any of our 
worn-out animals, and my brother and I volunteered for 
the tramp. We left the tank, thirsty, at sunset and 
reached the river below El Paso before daybreak, and 
after slaking our thirst, slept on the ground till morning, 
when we sent out a relief party, with water. Soon there- 
after I went to Fort Fillmore, in New Mexico, forty-five 
miles above El Paso, where I clerked in the sutler's 
store of Hayward & McGrosty, for nearly a year, when I 
returned to El Paso, and was employed in the same 
capacity by St. Vrain & Co., merchants. This firm 
had a branch store at the Santa Rita copper mines near 
where Silver City now stands, and I made two journeys 
to and from that place, the first time on horseback and 
alone. There was no habitation between La Messilla and 
Santa Rita, and the country was full of hostile Indians ; 
but of them later on. I remember camping alone over 
night at the place now known as Hudsons Hot Springs. 
The second journey I made as wagonmaster of our train 
laden with merchandise for the Santa Rita store, and 
brought back a load of copper, which we sent by wagons 
to Port La Vaca, eight hundred miles, and thence to New 
York by Gulf and Sea. 

While at the copper mines, three prospectors — Tayor, 
Snively and another — came to my camp and reported 
that they had discovered placer gold at Pinos Altos, 
near there, and, as they were out of provisions and 
money, I gave them what was called a "grub stake" — 
that is, provisions to continue their explorations. That 
was in 1859, ^^^^ ^ ^'^ told that gold is still being washed 
out at Pinos Altos, in 1900. 



EL PASO IN 1858. 

El Paso is situated on the Rio Grande River, in the 
extreme west corner of Texas, within a mile of that 
river, which forms the boundary line between Texas and 
Mexico, and very near to New Mexico on the north and 
on the west. 

The altitude is 3,700 feet and the climate is mild, pleas- 
ant and healthful. El Paso was then a small adobe 
hamlet of about three hundred inhabitants, more than 
three-fourths of whom were Mexicans. Nearly all that 
portion of the village or ''ranch" south of San Antonio 
and San Francisco streets was then cultivated in vine- 
yards, fruit trees, fields of wheat and corn and gardens, 
for at that time and for years later there was an abun- 
dance of water in the Rio Grande all the year round, 
and El Paso was checkered with acequis (irrigation 
ditches). 

At the head of El Paso street, near the little plaza, 
where the main acequia ran, there were several large ash 
and Cottonwood trees, in the shade of which was a little 
market where fruit, and vegetables, and fowls, and mut- 
ton, and venison, and other articles were sold. We had 
no regular meat market. 

To one of these trees some enterprising citizen had 
nailed a plank, which for years served as a bulletin board 
where people were wont to tack signed manuscripts giv- 
ing their opinions of each other. Here Mrs. Gillock, who 
kept the hotel where the Mills building now stands, 
notified the 'Tublick" when her boarders refused 
to pay their bills, and here, in 1859, I saw my brother 

13 



14 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

Anson nail the information that three certain citizens 
were Hars, etc., and here, just ten years later, I gave the 
same information regarding B. F. Williams. Foolish? 
Perhaps. 

The flouring mill of Simeon Hart, about a mile above 
the village, was the chief individual industrial enterprise 
in the valley, and ground the entire wheat crop from 
both sides of the river, and supplied flour to all the peo- 
ple and the military posts. 

The proprietor, a man of wealth and influence, staked 
all and lost all in the Confederate cause. 

The dam which supplied water to this mill had been 
constructed two hundred years ago by the people of the 
Mexican side of the river, who kept it in repair for all 
these years without asking any assistance from the people 
of the Texas side, although they generously divided the 
water with us. 

The patience and industry displayed by this people 
in repairing and rebuilding this dam, when washed away 
by annual floods, can only be compared to that of 
beavers. 

The Texas bank of the Rio Grande was then (1858) 
only a short distance south of where the Santa Fe depot 
now stands, but just how far south it is impossible for me 
or any one else, I believe, to tell, though I have been 
often asked to testify as to where the river bed was then, 
and in later years. It found its present bed more or less 
gradually by erosion and revulsion during these years, 
and left very few landmarks. 

The bed of the river was narrower then than now, and 
many cottonwood trees grew upon each bank. 

At the end of El Paso street was the ferry, where pedes- 
trians crossed in small canoes, and vehicles and wagon 
trains in larger boats. 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 15 

Sometimes, when the spring floods came, it was impos- 
sible for any one to cross for several days. 

Be it remembered there was not a railroad or tele- 
graph station within a thousand miles of us. The busi- 
ness houses, with one exception, were on El Paso street, 
and around the little plaza. My brother Anson and I 
each built homes at El Paso before the war, he on San 
Francisco and I on San Antonio street. The postoffice 
was on the west side of El Paso street, facing the head 
of San Antonio street, and in this same large room there 
was also a whiskey saloon, a billiard table, and several 
gambling tables. ''Uncle Ben" Dowell was postmaster. 
This room and the street in front of it were the favorite 
shooting grounds of the sporting men, and others, and 
here took place many bloody encounters, some of which 
may be treated of in these idle writings. The graveyard 
was convenient, being on one of the hills on what is now 
known as "Sunset Heights." At one time there were 
more people buried there who had died by violence than 
from all other causes. When I state that the writer of 
these pages sometimes read the burial service there over 
the remains of our departed countrymen, it may be 
imagined how sadly we were in need of spiritual guid- 
ance. Every citizen, whatever his age or calling, habit- 
ually carried a six-shooter at his belt, and slept with it 
vmder his pillow. I remember a friend, Johnnie Evans, 
saying to me once, when I was so thoughtless as to start 
down street without one : "Buckle it on. Mills ; we don't 
often need 'em, but when we do need 'em, we need 'em — 
Oh, God !" Every man's horse, or team, and arms were 
the best his purse could buy, and my white saddle horse, 
that carried me for ten years, was surely a dandy. Some- 
times, when I have journeyed to Las Cruces or Mesilla, 
fifty miles, in my buggy, I have turned this animal loose, 



16 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

saddled and bridled, and he has followed me the whole 
distance, as a dog follows his master. I have sometimes 
been vexed with the best of my human friends, but 
"Blanco" never disappointed me in anything. 

The Mexican population, now nearly all passed away 
by death or removal, were of a much better class than 
those who came in later with the advent of the railroads, 
to sell their labor — and their votes. It is but just to say, 
however, that votes cannot be sold unless there be pur- 
chasers, and that the purchasers have ever been of my 
own race. 

The villages below El Paso were more prosperous 
then than now, because their population is agricultural 
and the lack of water in the river in recent times has 
caused great discouragement and even distress. The 
same was true of Juarez Mexico, just opposite El Paso, 
then called Paso del Norte. 

I The county seat was first at San Elezario, twenty-two 
miles below El Paso, with fifteen hundred population, 
and later at Ysleta, with twelve hundred population 
(nearly all Mexicans), and still later at El Paso. Court 
proceedings and arguments to juries and political 
speeches were then made in the Spanish language. 

Fort Bliss, garrisoned by regular United States troops, 
situated at the place now called East El Paso, was con- 
sidered by army officers and their families as one of the 
most desirable posts in the whole country, and several 
officers who' subsequently held very high rank during the 
Civil War had been stationed there. There was another 
fort, called Quitman, seventy miles below El Paso, on 
the river, and a chain of military posts from there to San 
Antonio. The nearest posts in New Mexico were Fort 
Fillmore, forty milep o the north, near Las Cruces, and 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 17 

Fort Craig, one hundred miles still further north toward 
Santa Fe. 

As to hunting, there were at that time comparatively 
plenty of wild deer, turkeys, wild geese, ducks and moun- 
tain quail on the mountains and in the valley, and I got 
my share of them. 




ROSTER OF ANTE-BELLUM RESIDENTS OF 

EL PASO. 

J. F. Crosby, then district judge, Confederate ; is well 
known in El Paso. 

Simeon Hart, mill owner and contractor, Confederate. 
Died at El Paso. 

Henry J. Cuniffe, merchant. Union man. Was United 
States Consul at Juarez. Died at Las Cruces. 

H. S. Gillett, merchant and Confederate, lives in New 
Mexico. 

J. S. Gillett, merchant, Confederate; lives in New 
Mexico. 

Col. Phil Herbert, lawyer, Confederate ; killed in 
the war. 

Col. James W. Magoffin, contractor. Confederate ; 
sutler at Fort Bliss. Died at San Antonio. 

Joseph Magoffin, Confederate; served in the war; 
now lives in El Paso. 

Sam Magoffin, Confederate; killed in the war. 

Anson Mills, engineer, Union; now brigadier general, 
U. S. A. Lives in Washington, D. C. 

W. W. Mills, clerk. Union ; served in the war ; now 
United States Consul at Chihuahua, Mexico. 

Emmett Mills, Union ; killed in Indian fight in Arizona 
in 1861. 

Samuel Schutz^ merchant and Union man ; now in El 
Paso. 

Joseph Schutz, merchant. Union; died in 1895. 

Col. George H. Giddings, manager San Antonio 
Mail Co. 

18 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 19 

H. C. Hall, agent San Antonio Mail Co. 

Capt. Henry Skillman, frontiersman, Confederate; 
killed in the war. 

Brad Daily, Union scout and spy; died at Las Cruces, 
N. M. 

Col. Hugh Stephenson, mine owner and merchant; 
lived and died at Concordia, near El Paso. 

Uncle Billy Smith, patriarch of the valley; thrown 
from stage coach at El Paso in i860 and killed. 

Vicente St. Vrain, merchant, Union; died in New 
Mexico. 

A. B. O'Bannon, deputy collector customs, Confeder- 
ate ; dead. 

William Morton, district attorney. Confederate ; dead. 
Charles Merritt, manager Hart's mill ; dead. 
Henry C. Cook, lawyer. Confederate ; dead. 

B. S. Dowell, postmaster, Confederate; died at El 
Paso. 

* Nim Dowell, Union ; killed by Confederates in Texas. 

Fred Percy, English gentleman, Confederate; dead. 

Rufus Doane, county surveyor; dead. 

Billy Watts, sheriff ; dead. 

Emilio Deuchesne, merchant. Union; died in 1895, in 
Juarez. 

Russ Howard, lawyer. Confederate; now in San An- 
tonio. 

A. B. Rohman, merchant; dead. 

R. L. Robertson, agent Overland Mail Company, 
Union ; dead. 

Dr. Nangle, agent San Antonio Mail Company, Union ; 
dead. 

James Buchanan, merchant in Juarez ; dead. 

Charles Richardson, Confederate; lives in Juarez. 

D. R. Diifendorffer, merchant in Juarez. 



20 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

F. R. DIffendorffer, merchant in Juarez. 

G. W. Gillock, justice of the peace and hotel-keeper; 
dead. 

J. E. Terry, with the stage company; Hves in El 
Paso. 

Charles Music, merchant; lives in Mexico; and 

Andrew Hornick, H. McWard, George Lyles, 

Tibbits, Milby, David Knox, Bill Conklin and Tom 

Miller. 

There were usually about a dozen United States army 
officers at old Fort Bliss, now East El Paso. 

The most prominent Mexican citizens in Paso del 
Norte (now Juarez) were: 

Dr. Mariano Samaniego, Inocente Ochoa, Jose M. 
Flores, all still residing in Juarez ; Jose M. Uranga, Jefe 
Politico, dead; Juan N. Zubiran, collector of customs, 
my partner and friend ; and the venerable Ramon Ortiz, 
who ministered there as curate for fifty years, and died 
a few years since, beloved of the two races. 

The Americans living at Ysleta and San Elizario before 
the war were: Price Cooper, Henry Corlow, Tom Col- 
lins, Henry Dexter, James McCarty, A. C. Hyde, Wil- 
liam Claude Jones ; and Fred Pierpoint, who died of 
hydrophobia at El Paso in 1869. 

Of those named above as residing at El Paso in i860, 
the following left with the retreating Texans in 1862: 
Crosby, Hart, the Gilletts, the Magoffins, Herbert, Mer- 
ritt, O'Bannon, Morton, Cook, Skillman, Dowell, Rich- 
ardson and Russ Howard. Some of the last named 
remained away for years and others never returned. 

In their places there came soon (mostly discharged 
Union officers and soldiers) : A. H. French, J. A. Zabris- 
kie, G. J. Clarke, E. A. Mills, Nathan Webb, A. J. Foun- 
tain, William P. Bacon, Edmond Stein, S. C. Slade, John 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 21 

Evans, George Rand, Joe Shacker, Solomon Schutz, 
Louis Cardis, and Charles H. Howard. 

Except those last named, there was but little increase 
in the American population of El Paso for about fifteen 
years. 




INCIDENTS BEFORE THE WAR AND EARLY 
IMPRESSIONS. 

On the second night after my arrival in El Paso I had 
my first experience of the manner of settling difficulties 
there. Samuel Schutz, still of El Paso, and one Tom 
Massie had had a misunderstanding about the rent of a 
house. My brother and I went across the river that 
afternoon, and on the way we met one Garver, a half- 
witted fellow, called ''Clown," who said he had been 
"fixing a canoe" at the river, and in a friendly way he 
advised us to return early because there would be some 
fun that night. We asked him what fun, and he replied : 
''Oh, killin' a Dutchman !" That night, in front of the 
postoffice, I heard Massie say to a friend : 'T have taken 
half a dozen drinks of straight brandy, but d — n me if 
I can get drunk." I went into the postoffice and found 
an unusual crowd of men talking in low tones, and Mr. 
Schutz, in his shirt sleeves, was playing billiards with a 
friend. Presently Massie entered, and saying, ''Mr. 
Schutz, you told a d — d lie," presented a cocked pistol 
at that gentleman. There was no mistaking his inten- 
tion. Murder was in his voice and in his face. Then 
there came from Mr. Schutz such a sound as I never 
heard before or since. It was not a shriek, or an outcry, 
for he did not distinctly articulate a single word. It was 
not exactly an expression of fear, but was more like a 
prolonged wail over some tragedy which had already 
occurred. But Schutz did the right thing, and quickly. 
He seized the barrel of Massie's pistol and held it 
upward. Then commenced a struggle for life. Both 

22 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 23 

were powerful men, and in their prime, one moved by 
hatred and revenge, and the other by the instinct of self- 
preservation. It was some seconds after they grappled 
before that strange sound ceased. Massie strove to bring 
his cocked pistol to bear on Schutz, and Schutz to move 
it in any other direction. Shocked and alarmed, and 
remembering my teaching about law and order, I stepped 
forward and said, "Gentlemen, would you see the man 
murdered?" Not a man moved. Massie finally let fall 
his pistol, drew a knife and drove it into Schutz's shoul- 
der. Schutz fled, but Massie recovered his pistol and 
fired two shots at him as he ran out through the front 
door. It was dark outside. Immediately after the shots 
Schutz stumbled over a water barrel and fell, and Mas- 
sie, thinking him dead, crossed to Mexico in that canoe 
which Clown had "fixed." Schutz was untouched by the 
bullets, and the knife wound was not serious. 

The next day "Uncle Ben" Dowell gave me this 
advice: "My young friend, when you see anything of 
that kind going on in El Paso, don't interfere. It is not 
considered good manners here." The advice was well 
intended and worthy of careful consideration. Tom Mas- 
sie returned to El Paso, but was not prosecuted. 

Not long after the above occurrence, I saw a certain 
gambler shooting at another member of the profession 
in this same postoffice. A stray bullet killed an inoffen- 
sive by-stander. The coroner's jury exonerated the killer, 
as they said the killing was clearly "accidental." There 
was, of course, some sympathy for the innocent dead 
man, but most of it appeared to go to the gambler who 
had been so "unfortunate" as to kill the wrong man. 

Of the Americans then at El Paso, some had left wives, 
or debts, or crimes behind them in "the States," and had 
not come to the frontier to teach Sunday school. But 



24 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

there were good people here also, and for the few who 
were capable of doing busmess and willing to work, the 
opportunities were as good then and as profitable as they 
have ever been since that time. The products of the 
mines, crudely worked, in northern Mexico, were brought 
to El Paso and exchanged for merchandise or money. 
The military posts (forts) in northwest Texas and south- 
ern New Mexico were supplied with corn, flour, beef, 
hay, fuel, etc., by El Paso merchants and contractors. 

The Overland Mail Company then operated a weekly 
line of mail coaches, drawn by six animals, between St. 
Louis and San Francisco. The time between these two 
cities was usually twenty-six days, the distance being 
2,600 miles. These splendid Concord coaches (now 
almost gone out of use) carried the United States mail, 
for a Government subsidy, and usually four to nine 
through passengers, besides the driver and "conductor." 
Changes of animals were made at ''stations" built of rock 
or adobe, every twenty-five to forty miles, or wherever 
the company could find a stream, or spring, or water- 
hole. These coaches traveled day and night, in all kinds 
of weather. 

El Paso was at this time (1858) the terminus of two 
other important stage routes — one from Santa Fe, New 
Mexico, and the other from San Antonio, Texas. These 
were in every particular so similar to the greater "Over- 
land" route that a description is unnecessary. There 
was also a stage line to Chihuahua. 

These mail coaches were the forerunners of the "Lim- 
ited Express" and the Pullman sleeper of the present day; 
and the rough, brave men who drove and managed them 
and protected the stations, fighting Indians the while, 
were the pioneers, the Daniel Boones and Simon Ken- 
tons of this frontier ! They opened the way for the South- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 25 

ern Pacific, the Mexican Central, the ''Sunset" and the 
Santa Fe. 

Does the tenderfoot who now rides over these routes, 
in luxury and safety, appreciate the work of these men? 
I have heard more than one of them intimate that he 
would have done things much better than we did, if he 
had only arrived in time. I am very sure I have heard 
several of them say that they would have made and 
saved plenty of money, if they had only had our opportu- 
nities; and this appears to me the proper place for a 
few remarks on success and failure in life; if, indeed, 
any place is good for such a homily. By success I, of 
course mean what the majority of men mean by the 
word success — the accumulation of wealth. 

Well, during the ten years following my locating at 
El Paso, I was well and familiarly acquainted with at 
least fifty active, intelligent, educated young men, of 
whom it might have been predicted that they would 
succeed in life. These, if now living, would all have 
more than three-score years. Several of them died by 
the hands of the Indians, and some of them by the hands 
of their own countrymen, a number went to the bad or 
died early. Several of them lived beyond middle age 
and led brave, honorable and useful lives, but I recall 
only two who could be classed as successful men, accord- 
ing to the above test. True, some of them gained much 
money and spent it liberally and often charitably, or lost 
it, but according to the popular idea, a man to be suc- 
cessful must have plenty of money when he dies. And 
though he leaves no minor children or dependents, his 
neighbors will whisper at his funeral, "He died poor," 
in much the same tone as one might say, "He was 
hanged." 

In order that the importance of these mail routes and 



26 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

other enterprises on this frontier may be appreciated, I 
must here state a fact which may seem strange to some of 
my readers. At that time this whole frontier was in the 
actual possession of savage Indians. The Americans 
and Mexicans were secure only near the military posts, 
or villages, or large settlements, and when they traveled 
from place to place, they traveled in companies strong 
enough for defense, or at night and by stealth, trusting to 
Providence, or luck, each according to his faith. 

The men who, for whatever reasons, had made their 
way to this distant frontier, were nearly all men of char- 
acter ; not all of good character, certainly, but of positive, 
assertive individual character, with strong personality 
and self-reliance. (The weaklings remained at home.) 
Many of them were well bred and of more than ordinary 
intelligence, and maintaining the manners of gentlemen. 
Even the worst of these men are not to be classed with 
the professional "toughs" and "thugs" who came later 
with the railroads. They were neither assassins nor 
thieves nor robbers. Vices? Plenty; but they were 
not of the concealed or most degrading kinds. Vio- 
lence? Yes, but such acts were usually the result of 
sudden anger or of a feeling that under the conditions 
then existing each man must right his own wrongs or 
they would never be righted. Their ideas of right and 
wrong were peculiar, but they had such ideas neverthe- 
less. I knew a young man who was well liked and had 
good prospects, who violated confidence and attempted to 
betray his benefactor. The facts became known. Now, 
if he had shot a man because he did not like him much, 
anyhow, or if he had run away with his neighbor's wife, 
his conduct might have been overlooked. But treachery ? 
Ingratitude ? Never ! He became the most despised man 
in the community. The merchants and business men 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 27 

were certainly an exceptional class. Honorable, highly 
intelligent, charitable and gentlemanly. I could name a 
dozen gentlemen who were here even as far back as the 
"sixties," from which Hst I beHeve any President might 
have selected an able cabinet. Not all of these were of 
my own race; and yet, even these did not hold them- 
selves entirely aloof from the other classes. The times 
did not favor or permit such exclusiveness. 

Common trials and dangers united the two races as 
one family, and the fact that one man was a Mexican 
and another an American was seldom mentioned, and I 
believe as seldom thought about. Each man was es- 
teemed at his real worth, and I think our estimates of 
each other's characters were generally more correct than 
in more artificial societies. 

Spanish was the language of the country, but many 
of our Mexican friends spoke English well, and often 
conversations, and even sentences, were amusingly and 
expressively made up of a blending of words or phrases 
of both languages. 

To the traveler, who had spent weeks crossing the 
dry and desert plains, this valley, with the grateful 
humidity of the atmosphere, the refreshing verdure, the 
perfume of the flowering shrubs, the rustling of the 
leaves of the Cottonwood trees, and their cool shade, and 
in the spring or summer, the bloom of the many fruit 
trees, or the waving of grain fields, were all like a sight 
or breath of the Promised Land ! 

The people, the peasantry, were content and happy. 
To them, with their simple wants, it was a land of plenty. 
The failure of water in the Rio Grande has sadly changed 
all this. It may be said that this valley and the things 
here described were not in themselves beautiful, but only 
appeared so by contrast with the barren country over 



28 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

which the wanderer had traveled ; and this may be true, 
but it is not wise to analyze too severely the things that 
give us pleasure. They are few enough at best. 

Our currency was the Mexican silver dollar, then at 
par, and the Mexican ounce, a gold coin worth sixteen 
dollars. 

There were no banks^ and no drafts or checks except 
those given out by the paymasters and quartermasters of 
the United States Army. 

Everybody loaned money when he had it, but only for 
accommodation. I knew of only one man in the whole 
valley who loaned money at interest or required security. 

It was no unusual thing for merchants to loan large 
quantities of their goods, bales of prints and muslin and 
sacks of sugar and cofifee to their neighbor merchants, 
to be repaid in kind when their wagon train arrived. 

Carriages and buggies were considered as almost com- 
munity property, and the man who refused to lend them 
was considered a bad neighbor. 

Everybody had credit at "the store," and everybody 
paid up — sooner or later. 

There were no hotels. Travelers stopped at each 
other's houses and even strangers were welcome there. 
Any one having any claim to gentility or education was 
cheerfully received and entertained by the officers at the 
army posts, and many, very many, by the collector of 
customs at El Paso. 

There was one peculiar fact about the El Paso of those 
early days, for which I could never give any good rea- 
son. 

Perhaps there were several reasons. 

Our little village was better known, or, rather, it had 
greater notoriety and elicited more interest and inquiry, 
than any other town in the United States of twenty times 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 29 

its population. I know this from my own experience 
during my visits to Eastern cities, and the same state- 
ment was made by every El Paso wanderer on returning 
home. I mean that a gentleman registering from El Paso 
in any of the great cities received more attention and was 
more questioned about his town than one from San 
Antonio or Denver. 

It seemed impossible to go anywhere without meeting 
an army officer or some one who had lived at El Paso, or 
some stranger who had heard of the little hamlet and 
was eager to learn more. 

In spite of privations, our little village seemed to have 
an unaccountable fascination for every one who saw 
it, refined American ladies as well as the less fastidious 
and sterner sex. 

This was my El Paso. To me it was like the Deserted 
Village to Goldsmith. 

The new El Paso got away from me. Que sea por 
Dios. 

Our merchandise and supplies were brought from St. 
Louis, a distance of sixteen hundred miles, or from Port 
Lavaca, Texas, a distance of nine hundred miles, by large 
trains of immense freight wagons, ''Schooners of the 
Plains," drawn by fourteen to eighteen mules, usually 
four abreast, at a cost of twelve and one-half to fifteen 
cents per pound for freight only. These trains were 
usually accompanied by twenty-five to forty men, includ- 
ing the drivers, all of whom were well armed, and stood 
guard hke soldiers. 

The "wagonmaster" was a character of importance 
and authority, and a hunter was usually employed to 
procure fresh meat and to look out for Indians and for 
Indian ''sign." These trains, like the stage coaches, 
were often attacked by Indians, but because of the 



30 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

greater number of men and better means of defense, they 
were not so frequently "taken in" as the latter. 

I quote here the prices of a few of the articles pur- 
chased by me of El Paso merchants during the "sixties," 
having preserved the original bills : One common No. 
7 kitchen stove, $125 ; ham and bacon, 75 cents per 
pound ; coffee, 75 cents per pound ; sugar, 60 cents per 
pound : lard, 40 cents per pound ; candles, 75 cents per 
pound; one-half ream letter paper, $4; nails, 50 cents 
per pound; matches, 12J cents per box; tobacco, $2 
per pound ; calico' (print), 50 cents per yard ; bleached 
muslin, 75 cents per yard ; unbleached muslin, 50 cents 
per yard; coal oil, $5 per gallon; alcohol, $8 per gal- 
lon; lumber, rough sawed, 12J cents per foot; empty 
whiskey barrels, $5 each ; starch, 50 cents per pound. 
But if we paid high prices, we also received high prices 
for what we had to sell. I will here state briefly a few 
of my own business experiences. I made large quanti- 
ties of wine from the El Paso grape, and sold it readily at 
$5 per gallon, $200 per barrel of forty gallons. For 
two years I furnished the Government with all the vine- 
gar and salt used in the Military Department of New 
Mexico, vinegar at $1.70 per gallon, and salt at 17 cents 
per pound, delivered at El Paso. Vinegar, four thou- 
sand gallons, and salt, one thousand bushels. The 
vinegar was manufactured from the El Paso grape, and 
the salt was brought from a natural salt lake, one hun- 
dred and twenty-five miles northeast of El Paso, and 
ground at Harts Mills, near El Paso, and sacked here. 

The Government had previously been hauling these 
articles from St. Louis, a distance of sixteen hundred 
miles. My partner, Don Juan Zubiran, and myself one 
day delivered three hundred head of beef cattle to the 
Government at Las Cruces, New Mexico, at 18 cents 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 31 

per pound on the hoof — $90 per head. For a year I 
delivered beef on the block to the troops at Fort Bliss at 
22 cents per pound. 

I will now give some items from the other side of my 
ledger. Three hundred head of cattle belonging to my 
partner, Mr. Norboe, and myself were taken by Indians 
in Arizona in 1865, and half of our herders killed. These 
cattle were being driven to California, where there was 
then a good market. A white man, also a partner, got 
away with $11,000 worth of my cattle at Fort Sumner, 
New Mexico, by selling them and running away with 
the money. 

Another partner, an honest man, died my debtor to 
the amount of $14,000. This would not have occurred 
had the gentleman not become insane and unable to set- 
tle his large and compHcated business. 

From the day of my first arrival at El Paso, I deter- 
mined to make the place by permanent home, and I have 
never had any desire to change that choice. From the 
first I foresaw the prospective importance of the place, 
and many a still, lonesome night have I listened to the 
roaring of the waters over the dam at Harts Mill, a mile 
above the village, and tried to fancy it the rumbling of 
railroad trains, which were then fifteen hundred 
miles away. No, I do not claim to have foreseen that 
El Paso would be the center of so many railroads, but 
I felt sure that the first road to the Pacific Ocean would 
pass through El Paso, and so it would, had it not been 
for the Rebellion. I would not claim to have had this 
foresight, did not my letters to my friends during those 
early years (some of which are still extant) bear out the 
statement. I probably wrote more and spoke more 
about the certain future of El Paso than any one who 
ever lived here. I did more. I proved my faith by my 



32 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

acts. For ten years, amid all the folly and extravagance 
and vices of my bachelor youth, I kept one object con- 
stantly in view : to acquire and hold and pay taxes on 
a sufficient number of town lots to make me reasonably 
independent when the railroads should come, and for a 
time I owned more desirable property in El Paso than 
any other individual ever owned except the proprietors 
of the town tract. 

Well, the greater portion of this valuable property was 
taken from me by corrupt courts and officials and by 
faithless lawyers and supposed friends, and by other 
means which I may or may not refer to in these writings. 
If any man says he would have defended himself and 
his rights better or more courageously than I did, I can 
only reply that I think I was fortunate to escape with 
my life ! After all this, more than a hundred strangers 
(who never owned enough of mother earth to be buried 
in) have said to me : ''You have been here a long time, 
Mr. Mills, and if you had only known what El Paso 
would be you could have bought town property very 
cheap and could have been wealthy," etc., etc. Then, 
for a moment, homicidal thoughts come into my mind. 
But it would do no good to kill such a man. A fool 
or two more or less in the world, or even in a commu- 
nity, would make no perceptible difference. There are 
so many ! 

It has been said these men of the frontier In those 
early days led indolent, idle lives in a ''Sleepy Hollow," 
and that is true in a way. 

The conditions were such that constant toil and en- 
deavor were almost impossible. A train of wagons 
would arrive from Mexico with silver or other products 
and in a few days the El Paso merchant would sell or 
exchange thousands of dollars' worth of goods, and 



FORtY YEARS AT EL PASO. 33 

then for weeks he might not have a customer worthy of 
his attention. 

Another man would labor almost incessantly night 
and day for a time in filling some Government contract, 
and then for months, perhaps, no other opportunity 
would offer for the exercise of his energy. It was "en- 
forced idleness." But in the long run these men ex- 
pended as much effort, physical and mental, in chasing 
the nimble dollar as the most plodding, methodical Chi- 
cago business man of today. 

Profits were often great and risks were always great. 
I do not think the desire for money, for its own sake, 
was as strong as in older communities, and this led to 
what we called liberality and what the wise call ex- 
travagance. If any man had devoted all his energies 
to accumulating and hoarding money he would have 
been viewed with disfavor by his neighbors, and at that 
time men were in many ways dependent upon the good 
will of their fellows. 

If any gentleman did not care to bet on the horse 
race or to "sit in" at the poker game, nO' one criticised 
his peculiarity, because each granted to the other the 
right he claimed for himself, to do as he pleased about 
such amusements. But if such a one gave out that he 
thus refrained because he feared to set a bad example 
to others or because he feared Divine wrath, his sin- 
cerity would have been doubted, and frankness and can- 
dor were rated among the essential virtues. 

Within the memory of men still living there occurred 
an incident which illustrates men's views of law and 
order in those days. A certain desperado had been 
getting drunk and riding into stores and saloons and 
firing his. pistols at random in the streets and threaten- 
ing people's lives, till the "good citizens" became weary. 

8 



34 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

Finally he took a snap shot at the popular member of 
the Legislature, Mr. Jeff Hall, on the main street. This 
was too much. In a few moments fifteen or twenty of 
the aforesaid "good citizens" were chasing him over 
town with shotguns, rifles and pistols. The desperado 
was brought to earth in the corral of the old Central 
Hotel — "Hell's half acre" — pierced by many missiles. 
Then there was an animated dispute among the above- 
mentioned good citizens as to who had fired the fatal 
shot. One claimed to have done the work with his 
shotgun. Another said that such small ammunition at 
long range could not kill such a man, but that it was 
his rifle shot in the neck that did it. A third said that 
he had dispatched the deceased with three body shots 
from his sixshooter, and so on. 

At last "Uncle Ben" Dowell said : "Gentlemen, some 
day some judge or other may come along and be hold- 
ing court, and some of us may have trouble about this 
business." Thereupon they organized a coroner's jury, 
composed of the identical men who did the shooting, 
and sat upon the corpse and agreed upon a verdict, to 
the efifect that "Deceased came to his death by gunshot 
wounds from the hands of parties unknozvn." 

It was about this time that an El Paso merchant, still 
living in this valley, had a little experience with the 
rough Americans here, mostly gamblers. There were 
many of the latter class. 

At this time the fraternity were broke, and some of 
them had pawned their pistols with this merchant for 
money. But finally one of them reported to the "boys" 

that Mr. had refused to make any more loans on 

pistols. "How did you approach him?" was asked. 
"Why, I presented the handle of my pistol and asked 
him to loan me $25 on it." "Idiot," said "Snap" 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 35 

Mitchell, the leader, ''you don't know how to soak a 
pistol ; watch me." So "Snap" went to the store and 
presenting the miiszle of his pistol asked for a loan. He 
got it, and went away with the pistol also. 

I believe my friend remembers the transaction. Later 
this same merchant was called upon by a party of se- 
cessionists, who accused him of being a abolition- 
ist, and talked to him seriously about the penalty, which 
was hanging. My friend was a foreigner and did not 
understand our language as well as he does novv*. I 
asked him what he said to them when they threatened to 
hang him, and he repHed : "Well, I told them that I 
had no 'scruples.' " Of course, he meant that he had 
no preference for either the Union or Confederate cause. 
It is certain that he did not mean that he had no scruples 
about being hanged ! 

An ofificer of volunteers bought goods of this same 
merchant, refused to pay him, swindled him, and be- 
cause asked to pay called him a Jew and other pet 

names, and finally sent him a formal challenge to fight 
a duel. The merchant came to me greatly agitated, 
and declared that he would rather die than sufifer such 
indignities, and asked my advice. I knew that he was in 
earnest, and the of^cer was notified to appear at sunrise 
at the graveyard on the hill, distance ten paces, double- 
barreled shotguns loaded with buckshot, to fire at the 
word. The ofificer declined, declaring the terms "bar- 
barous," and that ended his career as a valiant son 
of Mars. 



MURDER AND ROBBERY OF GIDDINGS' 
STORE (SHELDON BLOCK). 

In 1859 the San Antonio Mail Company had its head- 
quarters on the lot where the Sheldon building now 
stands. They had in the old adobe house as large a 
stock of general merchandise as any El Paso merchant 
now carries. The clerks who slept in the store were a 
Mr. Atkins, famiharly known as "Ole Dad," and 'Tred" 

■ , a young German. One night Atkins was absent and 

Fred was sleeping in the store alone. 

The next morning a window in the south side of the 
building was found to have been dug out of the wall 
and poor Fred was lying dead in his bed with fourteen 
knife wound's in his body. A large amount of money 
had been taken from the store (there were no safes nor 
banks here then) and quantities of valuable goods had 
also been carried away. This was evidently the work 
of robbers from the Mexican side of the river. No 
trace of the robbers or money or goods was ever dis- 
covered. 

After this murder Mr. Atkins declined to sleep in the 
store alone. The writer was at that time clerking for 
St. Vrain & Co., merchants, in the old Central Hotel 
building, which was burned down a few years ago. 
As we had plenty of people to protect the St. Vrains 
store it was agreed that I should go over each night and 
sleep in the store which had been robbed. But soon 
the scare was over and Atkins, saying that ''lightning 
never struck twice in the same place," left me alone for 
one night. I had a shotgun and pistol, and a good 

36 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 37 

watchdog. The merchants of the village had employed 
a Mr. Cullimore (now of Austin, Tex.), familiarly called 
"Bones," to patrol the town of nights. 

That night about 2 o'clock I heard the report of 
both barrels of "Bones' " shotgun resounding in the 
little plaza, and his voice calling to me to ''look out, 
Mills !" Robbers, probably the same party, had com- 
menced to dig out the same window and had half fin- 
ished the work when "Bones" fired on them without 
efifect. They fled, of course, and left only a hat and 
handkerchief on the ground as remembrances. It was 
long before any one would sleep alone in that store. 




THE CANBY-SIBLEY CAMPAIGN IN 1861-2. 

The following notes are published substantially as 
they were written soon after the close of the campaign. 
The remoteness of New Mexico from the scenes of vast- 
ly more important conflicts prevented historians of the 
war from writing of that campaign, which, though insig- 
nificant by comparison, was one of the knightliest and 
most romantic in history. I have here aimed to do jus- 
tice to the brave men, of both armies, who marched and 
countermarched, and fought and fled and fought again 
along the banks of the Rio Grande forty years ago. 

In 1858, when still a youth, accident and adventure 
brought me to El Paso. ^ * * Determining to 
make my home in this valley, and being without money 
or friends or a profession, I commenced life as a mer- 
chant's clerk. I had spent about three years in that 
capacity when the news of the firing on Fort Sumter 
and the inglorious surrender by General Twiggs, of all 
the United States troops in Texas, startled us as much, 
though ten days old, as though the lightning had 
brought it. We had heard a great deal of street corner 
talk about secession, and a packed convention had 
passed a resolution declaring Texas out of the Union, 
which resolution had been submitted to a vote of the 
people ; my brother (now Col. Anson Mills), myself and 
only two or three others voting against it in El Paso 
County. The Mexican voters, of course, knew but Httle 
about the questions involved in, secession and were in- 
fluenced by the Americans, most of whom favored se- 

*"A11 of which I saw and a part of which I was." 

38 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 39 

cession, those of Northern birth being loudest in their 
protestations of devotion to the South and loudest in 
denunciation of ''abolitionists," which meant all who 
did not favor rebellion. 

There was at that time a garrison of United States 
troops at Fort Bliss, within a mile of El Paso ; another 
at Fort Quitman, ninety miles below, on the river, and 
several other posts in striking distance, all of w^hich 
were included in the surrender of General Twiggs to 
the "Texas commissioners" at San Antonio, 700 miles 
away ! There was not a Confederate soldier within 500 
miles of Fort Bliss, but such is the power of military 
discipline that the post commander. Colonel Reives, 
though urged by my brother and myself and others to 
disregard Twiggs' order of surrender, turned over his 
arms and valuable stores to Commissioner McGoffin and 
marched with his command, as prisoners, to San An- 
tonio. 

Then we determined that my brother should go to 
Washington city and report the condition of afTairs 
here, and try to get the Secretary of War to order these 
officers not to respect Twiggs' surrender, but he arrived 
too late. 

I and a younger brother, Emmet Mills, remained at 
El Paso. The feeling against Union men grew still more 
bitter. I could see no good in rebellion. I was willing 
to make some sacrifices and incur some dangers for my 
flag and country. 

Colonel Loring at that time commanded the United 
States troops in the adjoining territory of New Mexico. 
There was a garrison at Fort Fillmore, fifty miles north 
of El Paso, but United States oiTficers who had resigned 
(?) and passed through El Paso going south, gave out 
that Loring was "with the South." 



40 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

By this time a small force of Texas troops were en 
route to El Paso and New Mexico and it was claimed 
that Fort Fillmore would be surrendered without a 

fight. 

I then went to Fort Fillmore and en route was given 
a letter, with the request that I was to hand it to Captain 
Lane, then commanding that post. Being introduced to 
Captain Lane, in conversation about secession he com- 
plained that we El Paso people had taken advantage of 
his position to treat him badly. He said we knew his 
feelings were with the South, and that we had presumed 
upon the fact in taking his horses and placing him in 
an embarrassing position. He said he could recapture 
the horses and destroy our town, but he would not. This 
satisfied me that nothing could be hoped for from him. 
Of course. Lane supposed that I was in sympathy with 
rebellion, and for good reasons I did not undeceive 
him. I told him in a jocular way that he might as 
well turn over his saddles as they were useless to him 
without horses, at which he became angry and I left 
him. I then proceeded tO' the town of La Messilla, five 
miles from the fort, and found a secession flag flying 
in the street and the secession leaders notifying Union 
men to leave. They had held a convention and organ- 
ized a Confederate territorial government for what they 
called Arizona. 

By this time Colonel Loring" had passed south to 
join the Confederates. Gen. E. R. S. Canby was now 
in command of the Department of New Mexico, with 
headquarters at Santa Fe. From Messilla I wrote to 
Hon. John S. Watts at Santa Fe as follows : 

"La Messilla, N. M., June 23, 1861. 

"Hon. John S. Watts : Sir — I came up here from El 
Paso two days ago hoping to meet you. I assure you 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 



41 



that I found matters here in a deplorable condition. A 
disunion flag is now flying from the house in which I 
write, and this country is now as much in the possession 
of the enemy as Charleston is. All the officers at Fort ^ 
Fillmore except two, are devotedly with the South, and 
are only holding on to their commissions in order to 
embarrass our Government and at the proper time to 
turn over everything to the South, after the manner of 
General Twiggs. The Messilla Times is bitterly dis- 
union and threatens with death any one who refuses to 
acknowledge this usurpation. There is, however, a 
latent Union sentiment, especially among the Mexicans, 
but they are effectually overawed. * * * The reg- 
ular soldiers, in defiance of the teachings of their officers 
and the offer of gold from Hart, are yet faithful, and 
if a second lieutenant were to ask them to follow him 
they would tear down the secession flag and throw the 
Times office into the river in an hour. Fifty of them 
could go to Fort BHss and capture all the Government 
stores at that place, but instead of this a few thieves 
came up from El Paso and stole forty of the horses be- 
longing to a mounted company at Fort Fillmore. No 
effort was made to recapture these horses, although the 
soldiers plead with their officers to allow them to do so. 
* * * About 300 Texans are expected at Fort Bliss 
in about two weeks, and if something is not done before 
that time Fort Fillmore will be surrendered. Very re- 
spectfully, W. W. Mills." 

(The above letter is copied from the Records of the 
RebelHon.) 

In contrast with this letter, and to show the plots and 
counterplots of those days, I copy from the same page 
of the Rebellion Records the following : 



42 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

"Hart's Mills, Tex., June 12, 1861. 
"Col. W. W. Loring : We are at last under the glo- 
rious banner of the Confederate States of America. 

* jk * Y/e shall have no trouble in reaching San An- 
tonio. Four companies of Texas troops have been or- 
dered to garrison this post (Fort Bliss). Meanwhile 
Colonel Magoffin, Judge Hart and Crosby are very 
much exercised and concerned on account of the public 
stores here in their present unguarded condition. Mean- 
while, you may, by delaying your departure (from New 
Mexico) a week or two, add much to the security of this 
property. 

'T regret now, more than ever, the sickly sentimental- 
ity by which I was overruled in my desire of bringing 
my whole command with me from New Mexico. I 
wish I had my part to play over again"^ 

"Should you be relieved of your command too soon 
to prevent an attempt on the part of your successor to 
recapture the property here send a notice by extraordi- 
nary express to Judge Hart. Your seat in the stage to 
San Antonio may be engaged. =i^ * * Faithfully 
yours, H. H. Sibley." 

(Note. — Sibley, who afterward commanded the Texas 
expedition, was a major of United States cavalry and 
Colonel Loring was then commanding, and betraying, 
the United States troops in New Mexico.) 

Judge Watts indorsed my letter to General Canby, 
who sent a young officer. Lieutenant Hall, to Fort Fill- 
more with a copy of it, to investigate and report. 

* * * General Canby read Major Sibley's letter of 
June 1 2th and mine of June 23d on June 29th, and Major 
Lynde having assumed command of Fort Fillmore he 
(Canby) wrote that officer as follows : 

*Did Arnold experience similar regrets and wishes? 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 43 

''Headquarters Department of New Mexico, 

"Santa Fe, N. M., June 30, 1861. 

"Maj. I. Lynde, Seventh Inf., Comdg. Fort Fillmore, 
N. M.: Sir — I had occasion on the 24th inst. to put 
you on your guard against the alleged complicity of 
bolonel Loring in the treasonable designs of the Texas 
authorities at Fort Bliss and El Paso. I now send a 
copy of one and extracts from another letter sent to 
me after the arrival of the mail yesterday, which fully 
confirm all the information I had previously received. 
Although Colonel Loring was still in the department, I 
have not hesitated, since this information was commu- 
nicated to me, to exercise the command and to give 
any orders or to take any measures that I considered 
necessary to protect the honor or the interests of the 
Government. 

''Sibley's letter shows the Texas authorities at Fort 
Bliss and El Paso count upon Colonel Loring's aid in 
furthering their plans and indicates the manner (by de- 
laying his departure) in which this aid is to be rendered. 
Colonel Loring's resignation was tendered on\the 13th 
of last month, and has doubtless long since been ac- 
cepted ; but this is not material, for any failure to act 
at once, or any hesitancy in acting, may be in the high- 
est degree disastrous. In this case, then, as in all sim- 
ilar cases which may occur, you will at once arrest the 
implicated parties and hold them securely until their 
guih or innocence can be determined by the proper tri- 
bunals. No considerations of delicacy or of regard 
must be permitted to interfere when the honor of the 
country and the safety of your command are involved. 
I send these communications by Lieutenant Hall, Tenth 
Infantry Very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 

"Ed. R. S. Canby, 
"Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, U. S. Army, Comdg. Dept." 



44 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 



I then returned to El Paso and settled my affairs pre- 
paratory to going- to Santa Fe to take part with the 
Union people. There was then residing at El Paso a 
Col. Phil Herbert, who had been a member of Congress 
from California, but who, on account of bad conduct or 
misfortune, had left the State under a cloud. Having 
never seen anything in the conduct of this gentleman 
that was not honorable, generous and brave, it is not for 
me to speak of his supposed faults. He was an enthu- 
siastic rebel, but my personal friend. When the stage 
coach was ready to start I took this man aside and con- 
fided to him where I was going, and why I was going. 
He approved of my determination and wished me per- 
sonal success. I passed Fort Fillmore again en route to 
Santa Fe, July i, 1861, and met Dr. Cooper McKee, the 
post surgeon, whom I knew well, and appealed to him to 
do something to prevent the surrender of the post. He 
appeared displeased at my remarks about his brother 
officers, and said that their sympathies or intentions 
were not his business, nor mine. 

I met at the post another young army surgeon. Dr. 
Alden, who had lately arrived from Santa Fe. I found 
him as enthusiastic and as distrustful of the officers as 
myself. He told me he had thought of sending a pri- 
vate express to General Canby, advising him of the dan- 
ger, but as I was going he would intrust it to me. He 
promised to meet me next day in Mesilla, and did so, 
but such was the feeling against Union men that this 
United States officer, almost under the guns of his post, 
did not dare to speak to me on the street, but beckoned 
me to an outhouse, where he privately handed me a 
letter to Lieutenant Anderson, Canby's adjutant. 

I then called upon Dr. M. Steck, a loyal man, who 
was Indian agent, and received from him some encour- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 45 

agement and a letter to some friends of the government 
at Santa Fe. We started the next morning to Santa Fe 
by stage coach. There were nine passengers, all Union 
men, I believe, and well armed. When about ten miles 
out we were overtaken by a Mexican courier with a note 
for Don Lorena Labide, a loyal Mexican passenger, in- 
forming him that a force of rebel horsemen had left 
Mesilla that morning, intending to capture the stage at 
the Point of Rocks that night. We held a consultation 
and determined to proceed and fight if attacked. When 
near the Point of Rocks eight of us got off the coach, 
with arms, and followed it at a distance, instructing the 
driver that if halted he should get them into a parley 
and give us the first fire. We, however, passed the 
point unmolested, probably because a company of 
United States troops camped near there. I went into 
this camp and found Lieutenant McNalley, with his 
company, en route to Fort Fillmore, and informed him 
of the condition of affairs there. At my request he 
gave us an escort. I found him loyal and ready for 
any duty. Arriving at Santa Fe I was introduced to 
General Canby, and delivered Dr. Alden's letter to his 
adjutant. Captain Anderson, who re;ad it and handed 
it to Canby. 

I made a verbal report of all I had seen and heard. 
General Canby informed me that he would order Captain 
Lane away from Fort Fillmore, and he did. The general 
also stated that he had ordered Maj. Isaac Lynde to 
leave his station in Arizona and take command of Fill- 
more. He had confidence in Lynde, and, telling me 
something of his plans, requested me to return to Fort 
Fillmore with dispatches for that officer. 

I arrived at Las Cruces, six miles from Fillmore, with 
these dispatches at sunset about the 15th of July, and 



4.6 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

met Dr. Steck, who avoided recognizing me. I took a 
room in the hotel, locked the door and tried to sleep. 
About 10 o'clock Dr. Steck came by stealth to my room 
to advise me of danger. The contents of my letter to 
Canby had been unwisely made known, and even United 
States officers were threatening vengeance. 

Before reaching the fort next morning I met two loyal 
friends. Dr. Knour, now of Las Vegas, and Mr. Brady, 
who also informed me that I had been threatened. I 
rode into the post and met Captain Lane, who angrily 
asked me if I had reported him to General Canby as a 
traitor. I replied that I had stated facts and left Gen- 
eral Canby to draw his own conclusions. A strange of- 
ficer then asked if I had said or written anything about 
him. He said whoever called him a traitor was a liar. 
That night he ran away from the post and joined the 
rebels at Bliss. This was one Captain Garland. 

I called on Major Lynde and delivered my dispatches. 
He sent for his adjutant, Lieutenant Brooks, who 
opened and read them with some remarks, which satis- 
fied me that he was not anxious to lose much blood in 
defense of his country. I believe, though I cannot 
know, that a message went that night to Colonel Baylor, 
who had arrived at Fort Bliss with his command, in- 
forming him of the contents of these dispatches. There 
was an order from Canby to Lynde to recapture Fort 
Bliss and the stores there, which he could easily have 
done. 

After Brooks withdrev/ Lynde spoke to me of the 
feeling among his officers against me. He said he be- 
lieved I had acted honestly, but unwisely. Many of his 
officers, he said, sympathized with the South, but they 
had pledged their honors that, as long as they remained 
in the service they would stand my him. I pleaded, en- 



POktY YEARS AT EL PASO. 47 

treated and tried to reason with him for half an hour. I 
told him treachery and ruin were all around him. *'He 
had six hundred regular troops, well armed and eager 
for the fray." I advised him to arrest a few officers 
and send them under guard to Canby ! To march on 
Fort Bliss and capture the three hundred half-armed 
Texans and the military stores which had been surren- 
dered there. Poor old man! It was useless. I have 
never seen Lynde since that day, but ten years later I 
received a letter, from which I extract the following : 

"St. Paul, October 22, 1871. 

"W. W. Mills : Dear Sir— Well do I remember the in- 
terview you refer to, but I did not believe then that my 
junior officers would act toward me as they did. Sin- 
cerely yours, I. Lynde." 

Major Lynde, in answer to Canby's letter indorsing 
me insisted that I should undertake to learn and report 
the exact strength of Colonel Baylor's command, prom- 
ising to fight him if it was not stronger than represented. 
I consented to undertake this dangerous service, but be- 
fore starting I went to Dr. McKee's quarters. Several 
officers were there. The doctor received me by saying 
that he had been my friend, but I had incurred the dis- 
pleasure of his brother officers and he could be so no 
longer. Doctor Alden said I had misrepresented him, 
that he had never doubted the loyalty or good faith of 
any officer. I reminded him of his letter to Anderson. 
He replied that it was only a friendly letter, having no 
reference to military matters. 

A year later, when in the field with Captain Anderson, 
he referred to his files and found Alden's letter to be a 
warning of treachery and danger. The gallant Lieuten- 
ant McNalley was present, but appeared to be in doubt. 
I have never seen him since, but subsequent events must 



48 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

have satisfied him of the truth of my representations to 
him that night on the Jornado del Muerto. 

But I am running ahead of my story. I procured a 
horse from m.y friend, Dr. Knour, and rode to Paso del 
Norte (Jaurez, Mexico), fifty miles in six hours, to watch 
Colonel Baylor, keeping off the road. While en route, 
at Canntilla, I met a deserter from Baylor's command, 
Sergeant Kemp, whom I knew to be a Union man who 
had been forced by circumstances to join the Texans. I 
gave him a letter of credence to Major Lynde, and he re- 
ported the exact strength of Baylor's command, but 
Lynde moved not. Several efforts were made to decoy 
me off the streets of Juarez, so as to kidnap me, but I 
saw through the design and avoided them. 

One morning I met three acquaintances near the 
bridge on the main street, and as I had a letter for one 
of them I saluted them with "Good morning, gentle- 
men." One of them, Kelly, secession editor of the 
Mesilla newspaper, said : "So you are a spy." I replied : 
"No, who says I am?" He said: "I do." "Then you 
are a liar." He struck at me, but I avoided the blow 
and placed a cocked pistol at his breast. He threw up 
his arms and said, "Don't fire," and I put up my pistol. 
Kelly was soon after killed by Colonel Baylor in a 
street fight at Mesilla. (Kelly was from Michigan.) 
There was at that time, at El Paso, a German named 
Kuhn, whom I knew, and who had the reputation of 
being a bad man. He professed to hate the Texans, 
and I did not suspect him of any connection with them. 

I was ready to return to New Mexico when one day 
about noon, when walking on the sidewalk near the 
corner of the plaza in front of the store of Mr. Duchene, 
I saw that Dutchman Kuhn on horseback in front of 
me, apparently drunk. I wished to avoid him, but as 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 49 

I neared him he rode onto the sidewalk and seized me 
by the shoulder. Half a dozen other horsemen ap- 
peared, as though they had risen out of the ground. 
One seized my pistol and ordered me to mount his horse 
quickly. I did so, and he vaulted up behind me, and 
away we all went a clattering gallop toward the Texas 
side.. When we had crossed the river I asked, "Where 
do you intend to take me?" One answered, "To Fort 
Bliss." I requested that they would not take me through 
El Paso, but they decided to do so. Kuhn then said 
to me that it was all right, I would have a fair trial and 
so on. I said : 'T want no talk with you, sir ; you are 
a scoundrel and a murderer. These soldiers obey or- 
ders. You betray for money." I said more, and of- 
fered to fight him if they would give me my pistol. As 
I expected, this piece of pluck won the chivalrous young 
Texans. I saw no possibility of escape, and knowing 
the bitter feeling against me it appeared to me the 
chances were in favor of being hung or shot. Not that 
I considered myself a spy, for I had not been in disguise 
nor in the enemy's lines, but I did not suppose those 
gentlemen would hesitate much about technicalities. 

To a soldier taken in battle imprisonment merely 
means exchange or parole, but this was a different mat- 
ter. It was not probable that the soil of a neutral re- 
public had been violated merely that the Texan officers 
might have the pleasure of my company about their 
quarters. At Fort Bliss I was taken before the then 
post commander, Major Waller, who said : "You are 
brought here a prisoner, sir." I asked why they had 
taken me from neutral soil, and he said I would learn 
in time. He then sent for the officer of the day, Capt. 
Ike Stafford, who conducted me to the guardhouse; it 
was filled with vermin and bad men. (Captain Staf- 
ford still lives in Texas.) 



50 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

The first night a blacksmith came and took the meas- 
ure of my ankle, and presently returned with a ball 
and chain which he rivetted on my leg. I soon found 
chat by removing my boot I could slip the iron over my 
foot, but the chances for escape were very poor, and 
I often shuddered when awakened from troubled sleep 
by its clanking. The idea of kidnaping me did not orig- 
inate with the Texan military, but was instigated by 
citizen non-combatants — my own neighbors. 

The next day two of the young men who kidnaped 
me came to see me at the guard house. Their names 
were Craig and McGarvey — ^Janies McGarvey, now of 
Galveston. Before they left they promised to be my 
friends, and faithfully kept their words. They told me 
that Kuhn had offered to divide with them the reward 
paid him for my arrest, but they declined the blood- 
money. 

Colonel Herbert also called to see me, and denounced 
my arrest and volunteered to act as my counsel. 

The colonel applied for a writ of habeas corpus, but 
the district judge refused to grant it. 

I asked to see Colonel Baylor, and asked to be tried 
and hung or shot or released. He said he had evidence 
enough to hang me, though he would disHke to do it. 
Still, if I insisted, he would give me a court martial. 
He recounted very correctly some of the incidents of 
my journey to Santa Fe. 

The next day Baylor sent his adjutant to inform me 
that he could not grant a court martial. 

Before my arrest I had written my brother Emmitt, 
who was employed on the overland stage line west of Me- 
silla, that there would be fighting between the Texas and 
United States troops, and suggested that he come in 
and report to the commanding officer at Fort Fillmore. 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 51 

He came, but received no encouragement at Fillmore, 
and learning of my arrest and being in danger of rebels 
at Mesilla, he attempted to make his way toward Cal- 
ifornia. He went in the mail coach with a party of six 
other young men, all well armed. 

At Cook's canyon, about one hundred miles west of 
Mesilla, they were attacked by a large body of Apache 
Indians under Mangas Coloradas, "Bloody Sleeves," 
and one of the most desperate frontier fights on record 
ensued. It appears that our friends had time to gain 
the top of a little hill and build a stone breastwork 
about two feet high, inclosing a space about twelve feet 
square. A freighter, Mr. Deguere, who passed the 
scene a few days later with his wagons, found and bur- 
ied the bodies and found everywhere the evidences of 
a terrible struggle. Under a stone, on the top of the 
wall, he found a pencil note, dated July 23d, 1861, 
stating that they had been fighting two days ; had killed 
many Indians ; that all were now killed or wounded ex- 
cept two; that they were out of water and would try 
to escape that night. I have visited the scene of this 
conflict. A tree, not more than ten inches in diameter, 
about one hundred yards from the fortification, has 
many marks of bullets evidently discharged from inside 
the wall. I give a list of the names of these brave men, 
the extent of whose daring and suffering can never be 
known in this strange life of ours. They were : Emmett 
Mills, Freeman Thomas, Joe Roacher, M. Champion, 
John Pontel, Bob Avlin and John Wilson. All were 
killed. The Indians who sold their arms and watches in 
Mexico said that they lost forty warriors in the fight. 
The newspaper containing this sad account was thrown 
to me through the window of my prison. 

It was about this time that I stood at the door of the 



52 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

guard house and saw Colonel Baylor with less than 
three hundred poorly armed Texans start on his march 
to capture Fort Fillmore, then garrisoned by seven 
hundred and fifty regular troops, the flower of the 
United States army, and I knew and said that he would 
succeed. That history is a short one. Baylor took 
possession of the town of Mesilla unopposed. Major 
Lynde made a show of attempting to dislodge him, and 
a skirmish ensued in which Lieutenant McNally, not 
yet knowing that it was only mimic war, exposed him- 
self and was wounded. 

Lynde retreated in good order( ?) and that night aban- 
doned the post and fled in the direction of Fort Stanton. 
A show was made of destroying the stores at the post, 
but very little damage was done. All was confusion and 
demoralization. A patriotic quartermaster, Lieutenant 
Plummer, left some government drafts in his pockets at 
his quarters. These were sent to Washington indirect- 
ly by the rebels, and the money collected. 

The command marched, or straggled, to San Augus- 
tine Springs, eighteen miles east of Fillmore, where 
being overtaken by Colonel Baylor with about two hun- 
dred men, they surrendered unconditionally without 
firing a gun. No sooner was the surrender an accom- 
plished fact than the same subordinate officers who had 
aided to bring it about, some by indifference, some by 
sympathy and some by treachery, united in charging the 
whole responsibility upon poor old Lynde. 

Major JLynde was dismissed from the service, but 
was reinstated after the war. He was not treacherous, 
he was weak, and he was deceived to his ruin and the 
disgrace of his flag. I have never doubted but that had 
he been properly supported and encouraged the result 
would have been different. Of his subalterns some re- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 53 

signed, some joined the enemy and some went into the 
recruiting and quartermaster's service, none, so far as I 
know, except McNally ever did much fighting. I do 
not censure all of them, but I thought, and still think, 
that there should have been one among them who would 
have assumed command, arrested Lynde, and won a 
colonel's eagles. 

When Colonel Baylor returned to Fort Bliss he sent 
to me and proposed to release me on parole. I refused 
to give my parole, and he informicd me that I was re- 
leased from close confinement and given the limits of 
the post. "But," said he, "if you attempt to escape to 
the enemy's lines I will capture and hang you." 
' -'" The secret of my release was that General Canby had 
arrested at Santa Fe a prominent secessionist, General 
Pelham, and, placing him in prison, threatened him with 
the same treatment that I should receive, and Canby was 
a man of his word. 

At the request of my friends, McGarvey, Craig and 
others, the "limits of the post" were enlarged as to me, 
so that finally I drifted to the Mexican side of the river. 
I had been confined about thirty days, in July and 
August, 1861. 

The nearest United States troops were at Fort Craig, 
one hundred and seventy-five miles north of El Paso, 
but I determined to make the journey. I obtained a 
horse from Craig and bought another, and secured the 
services of a Mexican who claimed to be a guide. 

We started at ii p. m. from Juarez. We crossed the 
river below Concordia and traveled north on the east 
side of the Organ Mountains, avoiding all roads. When 
we thought we had reached a point nearly east of Fort 
Craig, we rode west across the mountains. The jour- 
ney was not so easy as I supposed. The guide did not 



54 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

know the country, and, the weather being cloudy, we 
were lost in the mountains. When the sun came out 
we traveled west, knov/ing that we must strike the 
river somewhere. The fifth morning out from El Paso 
we heard the band play guard mount at Fort Craig, and 
rising a little hill my heart was gladdened by the sight 
of the flag of my country. 

This post, Fort Craig, was then commanded by Col. 
B. S. Roberts, of the regular army, a brave and true sol- 
dier, who was concentrating a force to resist General 
Sibley, who was then (December, 1861) en route from 
San Antonio with a force of thirty-five hundred Texans 
to capture and hold New Mexico. Colonel Roberts 
received me very kindly, and after I had made a written 
report of what I had seen and learned, offered to pro- 
cure me a captain's commission in the New Mexican 
volunteers (Kit Carson's regiment) or to get me a 
commission as first lieutenant and place me on his staff 
as aide-de-camp. I chose the latter. 

Early in February, 1862, General Sibley arrived before 
Fort Craig with his whole force and a battery of six 
guns. Major Teel's. Roberts had collected, to oppose 
him, one thousand regulars, two regiments of Mexican 
volunteers (natives), under Colonels Carson and Peno, 
and two companies of Colorado volunteers. Two com- 
panies of our infantry had been detached and trained to 
a battery of six guns, under the brave, unfortunate Cap- 
tain McRae. On a Sunday evening the Texans ap- 
peared in force in front of the post, and we marched 
out to fight them in the plain, but they retired. 

That night they crossed to the east bank of the Rio 
Grande, below Fort Craig, and next morning commenced 
to pass round the post by a road which our engineers had 
declared impassable. Their advance reached the river 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 55 

five miles above the post at 9 o'clock a. m. at Valverde, 
since changed to San Marcial. General Canby, who had 
arrived at Fort Craig, ordered Colonel Roberts to check 
them with the cavalry, and I went with him. We drove 
their advance back from the water, and Roberts sent 
me back to report to General Canby that the enemy's 
whole force would reach the river before noon, and 
to ask for re-enforcements. Canby sent Major Sel- 
den's column of infantry, six hundred strong, McRae's 
battery, Carson's New Mexico volunteers and the two 
Colorado companies. 

When we reached the scene of action the enemy had 
arrived at the foot of the hills, about a mile east of the 
river, there being between them and the river a level 
plain studded here and there with cottonwood trees, but 
in places the ground was open. Our right and their 
left rested on a round mountain on the east bank of the 
river. This was February 21st, 1862. 




THE BATTLE OF VALVERDE. 

This peaceful valley, which had scarcely before echoed 
to the report of the sportsman's fowling piece, was now 
to resound to the thunders of artillery and become the 
scene of bloody conflict. The west bank of the river 
where we first took position, was an open, level plain. 
The Texans had advanced their battery and support into 
a clump of trees about three hundred yards from the 
bank of the river and almost in the shadow of the moun- 
tain. They were in position when McRae arrived. Mc- 
Rae unlimbered on the very brink of the river, and this 
fierce artihery duel commenced. It did not last more 
than thirty minutes. 

Though McRae's loss was heavy, his victory was com- 
plete. Teel's battery was rendered useless for that day. 
When the artillery fight was nearly over Roberts sent 
me across the river with an order to Capt. David H. 
Brotherton to charge the enemy's battery with his two 
companies of infantry, and to bring Major Duncan's cav- 
alry to his support. Brotherton prepared to obey 
promptly, but as Duncan refused to obey the order I 
took the responsibility of recalling Brotherton and was 
commended for so doing. The enemy had now advanced 
toward the river in force, and Roberts ordered Selden 
with his infantry to cross the river, advance into the 
wood and attack with the bayonet if necessary. The 
men received the order with a shout and plunged into 
the river, which was cold and reached up to their arm- 
pits. Right gallantly did they obey the order, but they 
encountered double their number, strongly posted, and 

56 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 57 

were compelled to retire, which they did in good order. 
■Meantime our two Colorado companies had done good 
service on our left. They were dressed in gray like our 
militia, and the Texans, mistaking them for Mexicans, 
charged them recklessly. The Colorado men reserved 
their fire for close quarters, and emptied many saddles 
at the first fire. The remainder retired in disorder. 

The New Mexican volunteers were keeping the enemy 
from the water and skirmishing briskly at times. There 
was now, at 2 o'clock p. m., a lull in the fighting. Some 
of us had lunch and talked of the prospects. So far all 
was favorable to us except the repulse of Selden. 

We had kept them from the water, McRae had beaten 
their battery, and the Coloradans had gained an ad- 
vantage. We were well posted and provided ; their an- 
imals and men were weary and without water — they 
could not retreat ; they must surrender or starve or fight 
quickly and desperately. During this luU Roberts 
crossed our battery to the east bank and placed Selden 
in support of it. 

At 3 o'clock that afternoon General Canby appeared 
on the field and was received with cheers by the troops. 
After a brief consultation with Roberts he advanced our 
battery about five hundred yards, withdrew Selden from 
its support, leaving only two companies to protect it, 
and opened fire. Carson's Mexican regiment had been 
moved to our right and advanced, and with one com- 
pany of regulars repulsed a charge of Texas cavalry 
with some loss. I observed Carson closely. He walked 
up and down his line, quietly encouraging his men 
with such words as 'Tirnie, muchachos, firme" (steady, 
boys, be firm). 

The Texans now rapidly concentrated all their avail- 
able force at the foot of the hills in front of our battery 



58 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

for one last desperate charge. On they came, on foot, 
a mass of wild men, without order and apparently with- 
out command, with rifles, shotguns, pistols and all kinds 
of arms, and yelling like demons. Colonel Roberts saw 
the danger and ordered me to bring all the strength 
possible to charge then" flank as they neared the bat- 
tery. I found Major Duncan with his cavalry in an ad- 
vantageous position, and gave him the order, but again 
he failed to obey. Turning to Captain Wingate, with 
his two companies of infantry, he responded promptly 
and was immediately on the jump. But he was soon 
mortally wounded, and Stone, his second officer, being 
killed, the movement was checked. 

I returned to the battery. The small support was 
giving away ; Canby, whose horse had been shot, was 
on foot. He had taken a musket from a retreating sol- 
dier and was urging the men to re-form and charge. 
It was too late. The battery worked on to the last 
moment. Captain McRae and his first lieutenant, Mich- 
ler, were killed at their guns. Bell, the second lieuten- 
ant, was wounded. Of the ninety-three men belonging 
to the battery less than forty escaped. The contest was 
now ended, but notwithstanding this disaster, we re- 
tired to the post "with the regularity of a dress parade." 

Considering the numbers actually engaged, Valverde 
was one of the best fought and one of the most san- 
guinary conflicts of the war, the mortality on either side 
being near one hundred. Five officers of the regular 
army, McRae, Michler, Wingate, Stone and Bascom, 
were killed in that fight. I admired General Canby 
(since treacherously murdered by the Modocs) alike for 
his courage as for his amiable character, but I believe 
that if Colonel Roberts had been left to carry out his 
plans that day Valverde would have been a Union vie- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 59 

tory and the campaign closed. General Sibley, al- 
though present, did not seem to develop during the day. 
The fighting was done mostly by Green, Scurry, Lock- 
ridge and Pryon. The day after the battle a flag of 
truce was borne into the post by Colonel Scurry, Major 
Ochiltre and another. Scurry being an acquaintance 
inquired for me, and I was present at the interview. 
They demanded a surrender of the post, which Canby 
of course refused. Some time was spent in refreshment 
and conversation, and they retired. 

To condense and conclude this story, the Texans re- 
considered their threat of taking Fort Craig and took 
up their march for Santa Fe. We followed, leaving a 
sufficient garrison in the post, but it was not Canby's 
intention to bring on a decisive engagement. He had 
other plans. 

The Texans took possession of Santa Fe, the capital 
of the Territory, without opposition ; but their good for- 
tune allured them too far. They determined to attempt 
the capture of the Government supply depot, Fort Union, 
east of Santa Fe. Colonel Scurry commanded this ex- 
pedition. At Pidgon's ranch (Glorietta) they met Col- 
onel Slough's command of Colorado volunteers, and 
the regulars from Fort Union under Colonel Paul, who 
had united. Another battle took place almost as des- 
perate and fatal as Valverde. In numbers they were 
about equal, but the result was favorable to the Fed- 
erals, chiefly because during the day a detachment was 
sent to the Texan's rear, which under the direction and 
lead of Colonel Collins, a brave citizen, utterly de- 
stroyed their supply train. They slept hungry that night 
and then retreated in haste to Santa Fe. Meantime 
Canby had from Albuquerque opened communication 
with Paul and Slough, and a junction was effected at 
Tejaras, thirty miles east of Albuquerque. 



60 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

Sibley had now commenced his retreat to Texas. Our 
combined forces under Canby by a silent forced march 
overtook them at 2 o'clock one morning at Peralto, the 
home of the loyal Governor Connolly. We camped within 
two miles of Peralto without being discovered. We 
could hear the sounds of revelry at the governor's 
house, then Sibley's headquarters. A brief consulta- 
tion was held. Roberts proposed to *'go in at daybreak 
and wake them up with the bayonet," and, of course, 
tne whole command would have voted to do so but 
Canby's policy was to drive them out of the county with- 
out further loss of life — to *'win a victory without losing 
men," he said, and perhaps he was wise. 

We skirmished all that day, with advantages in our 
favor, but neither commander seemed disposed to bring 
on a general engagement, and that night Sibley, with 
the full knowledge of Canby, continued his retreat down 
the Rio Grande, a portion of our troops following them 
as far as El Paso. 

Of the thirty-five hundred Texans who entered New 
Mexico only about eleven hundred returned to Texas. 
The others were dead, wounded, sick, prisoners or de- 
serters. Many were buried on the west side of El Paso 
street, near where the Opera House now stands. 

This was a disastrous expedition. They were brave 
men, but their management, discipline and at times their 
food, was not good, and the mortality from disease was 
great. 

I accompanied Colonel Roberts to Santa Fe, where 
he detailed me as post quartermaster, but learning that, 
v/hile I was a prisoner at Fort Bliss President Lincoln 
had appointed me collector of customs at El Paso, and 
not intending to follow the profession of arms, I re- 
signed and returning to the home from which I had 
been driven, took possession of that office. 



CAPTAIN MOORE. 

While serving at Fort Craig, as above related, and 
when the Texans were advancing from El Paso nearer 
to Fort Craig, we had an outpost of two companies at 
a village called Alamosa, thirty miles south of Craig, 

on the Rio Grande, under command of Capt. 

Moore of the United States cavalry. One morning Gen- 
eral Roberts said to me : "Take an escort and go and 
see wdiat is going on at Alamosa." That was all the 
order I had. I went and met the younger officers, who 
told me that their captain was "in a bad way" and had 
been for several days. Going to Captain Moore's quar- 
ters I found him in a hopeless state of intoxication. 
After interrogating him until I was thoroughly satis- 
fied of his condition, I demanded his sword and or- 
dered him to go with my escort and report to General 
Roberts in arrest. 

I charged the sergeant to take good care of him but 
did not think of his pistol. When they arrived in view 
of Fort Craig Captain Moore drew his pistol and blew 
out his ozvn brains!" 

Captain Moore had the reputation of being a good 
officer, with only that one fault, and of course the 
tragedy, and my connection with it made me sad — but 
what else could I have done ? My action was approved 
and commended. 

After this campaign General Roberts, being in Wash- 
ington and testifying before the Congressional Com- 
mittee on the conduct of the war, said : "One young man, 
W. W. Mills, who had the courage to stand up at El 

61 



62 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

Paso and Fort Bliss against the secessionists, was 
thrown into prison there and kept in confinement and 
in irons for a long time and his life threatened. He 
succeeded in making his escape and in reaching Fort 
Craig, having undergone great hardship, being three 
days without anything to eat and without water. 

^'Because of his loyalty and services General Canby 
appointed him an acting heutenant. He was my aide- 
de-camp at the battle of Valverde, and his conduct there 
was not only meritorious, it was highly distinguished 
for zeal, daring and efficiency." — (Report of Committee, 
part 3d, page 271.) 

I believe every young American of spirit has a nat- 
ural desire for some romantic adventure requiring un- 
usual exertion and involving some danger. I pos- 
sessed this desire and it was fully gratified. That the 
Confederate soldiers manifested magnificent courage 
and devotion I freely grant. They once preserved my 
life from what General Scott termed ''the fury of the 
non-combatants;" but I am glad that my feeble efforts 
were put forth in behalf of a cause which the civilized 
world has approved and the righteousness of which no 
one now questions, I believe. I have met many bitter 
partisans in my time, but I have never heard any one 
attempt to defend or excuse the actions of Twiggs or 
Loring or Sibley or Garland or any of the officers who 
connived at or assisted in and about the disgraceful 
surrender of Major Lynde as related in these pages. 
Few young men ever came home from the perils of 
camp, prison and battlefield more victorious or better 
vindicated than did the writer to El Paso with the Fed- 
eral forces in 1862. 

The very charge against me then was that I had been 
the leader of the Union people of this frontier. 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 63 

While the advocates of secession had been more active 
and boisterous in their display of pov^er than the 
friends of the Government had been, there was a strong 
latent Union sentiment even among the Americans, and 
with the Mexicans it was universal; so that a large 
majority approved of my course and rejoiced at my 
safe return. 

Some who had bitterly opposed and even wronged 
me came to make peace (and promises), and I repulsed 
no man, because I felt that I could afford to be gener- 
ous and desired to live in peace with my neighbors. 

There were a few who still cherished the hope and be- 
lief that the Confederate cause would ultimately suc- 
ceed, and that the El Paso Valley would be recap- 
tured, and I would fare even worse than before; and 
the very few of these latter who are yet living, while 
they do not now, as then, denounce me as a "Union 
man" or as being "false to my home and fireside," still 
occasionally intimate that I must have been guilty of 
something wrong — but they do not specify what the 
wrong was. 

I organized the Republican party in El Paso County, 
and for a decade I controlled its politics. Yes ; a polit- 
ical "boss," if you will have it so, but I never pur- 
chased any votes nor juggled any man out of an election 
after he had won it, as was done in the case of Adolph 
Krakaner after he had been fairly and honestly elected 
Mayor of El Paso in April, 1889. 



A STORY WITHOUT A MORAL. 

On my return journey from Washington City in 
1863, when traveUng in the stage coach with driver and 
two other passengers, we hahed for supper and a 
change of animals at a village seventy miles north of 
Fort Craig, where, falling in with some ofificers who had 
served with me during the then recent campaign, I ac- 
companied them to their tents and there became so in- 
terested in telling and hearing stories that I forgot all 
about time and the stage went forward without me. I 
was the more to blame for this thoughtlessness because 
I was at the time bearing important official dispatches. 

With many regrets and self-reproaches and good res- 
olutions for the future, I procured a Government horse 
and started alone for Fort Craig, riding all night. I 
arrived at Fort Craig in due time safe and well, but 
learned that the stage coach had been attacked by In- 
dians and that the driver and two passengers had been 
killed. It is certainly right to teach schoolboys (as I 
did forty years ago) that promptness, perseverance, dil- 
igence and watchfulness will greatly increase their 
chances for success, but is it right to teach them that 
by these means or by any other means they can com- 
mand success? But I am not writing moral philosophy 
or solving riddles. 



64 



BENJAMIN S. DOWELL. 

On previous pages I have mentioned this character as 
"Uncle Ben" Dowell, the postmaster. He was a Ken- 
tuckian, who served through the war with Mexico, and 
at its close settled at El Paso in the ''forties" and mar- 
ried at Ysleta. 

He was an illiterate man, but of great force of char- 
acter. One day in the early "fifties" he did good work 
by killing, in a street fight, a desperado who was known 
to have broken into the Customs House and robbed 
the safe and who, with a party of men like himself, was 
defying the authorities. Dowell and I became friends, 
but when the question of secession arose he went wild 
on that subject and was, in part, responsible for my 
arrest as an ''aboHtionist," and we were bitter enemies 
for several years. 

He left El Paso with the retreating Texans just 
before we (the Union troops) took possession of that 
place in 1862. He returned to Juarez, and we met there 
several times but did not speak to each other. Finally 
Dowell wrote me a letter (printed below) which led to 
a renewal of our friendship, which continued till his 
death : 

'Taso Del Norte (Juarez), Mexico, October 12th, 1864. 
"Mr. W. W. Mills : Dear Sir— You may think strange 
to receive a communication from me, but as circum- 
stances alter cases I will proceed with my subject. I left 
Sherman, Texas, on the 27th, day of December last 
with the intention of making my way, if possible, to El 
Paso, as I did not think my life safe in Texas out of the 

65 



gg FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

Confederate ranks, which service did not suit me. I 
came here with the full intention of crossing over to El 
Paso to live, if I could get admission by complying with 
all that might be required of a citizen. But when^ I ar- 
rived here I commenced to talk with some old friends, 
and changed my notion for a time. I am now tired of 
living a dog's life, and I wish to live on your side of the 

river. 

"I hope you will pass over in forgetfulness any hard 
feelings you might have entertained toward me, and re- 
port favorably to the commanding ofticer at your post. 
Please let me hear from you by the bearer, and let this 
communication be confidential, and oblige, yours, etc., 

''B. S. DOWELL.'' 

This letter was brought to my office by Uncle Ben's 
little daughter Mary, and I immediately replied that I 
would be his friend, and without consulting the com- 
manding officer. Col. George W. Bowie, I invited 
Dowell to come to my house. He came the next day, 
bringing his very valuable race mare, the apple of his 
eye,tnd he told me that his brother "Nim," whom I also 
knew, was a Union man and had attempted to escape 
from'xexas and had been followed and killed by the 
Confederates. 

While we were talking over old times and thinking 
no harm a file of the guard appeared at my door and in- 
formed me that they had orders to take Dowell to the 
guard house and his mare to the Government corral. 

I was, of course, indignant. What? Federal bay- 
onets shoved into my door after all that I had gone 
through? In this frame of mind I called on Colonel 
Bowie and gave him what in these days might be called 
"a song and dance." I told the Colonel that Dowell 
was ready to take the oath prescribed in President Lin- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 67 

coin's amnesty proclamation, but he replied that he 
would not permit his adjutant to administer the oath, 
but out of consideration for me he would permit my 
friend to return to Mexico with his mare. He went, but 
the following day I wrote out the proper paper for 
Dowell and he swore to it before Henry J. Cunniffe, 
United States Consul at Juarez, and I took my friend 
and introduced him to Colonel Bowie as a fully fledged 
American citizen! 

The Colonel gracefully acknowledged that he was 
beaten, and Dowell remained with us. Dowell owned 
some desirable town lots in El Paso, which were saved 
from confiscation by his timely oath of allegiance. These 
lots were of little value at the time, but he managed to 
hold them till the advent of the railroads and the first 
El Paso boom, so that he lived poor and died wealthy. 

The Dowell race mare proved useful ; and here I state 
some facts of which I am neither proud nor ashamed. 
Uncle Ben assured me that she could outrun any quar- 
ter nag that would come to El Paso, and we formed a 
partnership under which he furnished the animal and 
the "horse sense" and I the money for the stakes. The 
race track was nearly along the line of West Overland 
street, the outcome being at its junction with El Paso 
street. Race animals were brought from California, 
New Mexico and Colorado to contest with us, and in 
four years we won several thousand dollars zvithotit los- 
ing a race. 

I withdrew from the partnership and quit all such 
business after my marriage in 1869. 



BRAD. DAILY. 

While the hostile Texans were approaching Fort 
Craig I was a lieutenant and aide-de-camp to the com- 
manding officer at that post, Gen. B. S. Roberts. The 
General directed me to try to find some intelligent, 
faithful citizen acquainted with the country to go as a 
spy to El Paso (from whence I had escaped) and bring 
him reliable information of the Texan forces in that 
vicinity. Brad. Daily, whom I had known well at El 
Paso, was at the time wagonmaster in charge of Ochoa's 
train, and in camp near the post. He was an old fron- 
tiersman, an Indian fighter, and had often been em- 
ployed as a guide by United States army officers. I 
knew that he was a Southerner, but I knew that when 
a man of that class took the Union side he could be 
trusted, and I knew that he possessed every other qual- 
ification for the dangerous service. I visited his camp 
and asked him casually what he thought about the war. 
He rephed that while he was a Southern man "Uncle 
Sam" had always treated him right and that he would 
stand by the Government. I then told him what was 
wanted, and he agreed to undertake the enterprise. 

I took him to the General and vouched for him, and 
he was supplied with two good horses and plenty of 
gold, and at midnight he started on his mission. I, of 
course, gave him no letters but referred him to two of 
my friends, whom he also knew very well, Don Jose 
Ma. Uranga, then Prefect of Juarez, and my former em- 
ployer, Mr. Vincente St. Vrain, a merchant of El Paso. 
Daily entered Juarez in the night and went to the Pre- 

68 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 69 

feet's house, where he remained concealed for a week 
or more, only going out at night. He met St. Vrain 
and other Union men at the Prefect's house, and he 
actually prowled through Fort Bliss of nights dis- 
guised as a Mexican peon, and came away as well in- 
formed about the number of troops and other matters 
at that post as the Texas officers themselves. He 
brought an unsigned letter which I knew to be in St. 
Vrain's handwriting, giving wholesale military infor- 
mation. This letter, had its contents been known to the 
Confederates, would have cost my friend St. Vrain his 
life. Said letter has been published by the United 
States Government in the "Records of the Rebellion." 

On his return Daily rode in the dark into a camp of 
Indians and came into Fort Craig with an arrowhead 
in his shoulder. He was paid $2,500 for his two wrecks' 
work, which he deposited with the Quartermaster, and 
was employed as a guide during the campaign which 
ensued. 

This man Daily was at times addicted to drink, and 
when intoxicated would gamble. One night an officer 
awakened me and informed me that Daily was at the sut- 
ler's store drunk and gambling and being robbed. I went 
to the store and found him in company with some gam- 
blers (camp followers) vainly trying, with their help, to 
sign his name to an order on the Quartermaster for two 
thousand dollars. I tore the paper into bits and took 
Daily away. The next morning I reported the facts to 
General Roberts, and he directed me to take a file of 
the guard and destroy all the intoxicating liquor at the 
store, place all loafers I found about the store in the 
guard house, and lock the store and bring the key to 
him. The order was executed. About a dozen ''loaf- 
ers" were provided with quarters in the guard house; 



70 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

barrels of whisky were rolled out and the heads driven 
in and hundreds of bottles were smashed. Some of the 
soldiers scooped up whisky in their hands and drank it. 
After the campaign Daily with his savings became a 
respectable and successful merchant of Las Cruces, N. 
M., and twenty years later was sued for that two thou- 
sand dollar debt. I was interrogated as a witness, and 
testified tO' the facts as I have written them above. 
Daily won the suit. 




JOHN LEMON. 

In 1861 John Lemon, a gentleman of about my own 
age, resided with his wife and children at La Mesilla, 
N. M., fifty miles north of El Paso. I was not then 
acquainted with Mr. Lemon, but soon after my escape 
to Fort Craig' from the Confederates at Fort BHss in 
1861, and after the Confederates had taken possession 
of La Mesilla, Lemon and one Jacob Applezoller and 
a Kentuckian named Critendon Marshall, were arrest- 
ed and placed in the guard house as "Union men." One 
midnight these three were taken from the guard house 
by the guard and a party of citizens to a bosque and 
Marshall was hung by the neck until he was dead. 
Applezoller was also suspended by a rope, but for some 
reason was cut down before death ensued, and I believe 
is still living in New Mexico. Lemon and Applezoller 
were taken back to the guard house and some time later 
Lemon made his escape and joined the Union people 
at Fort Craig, as I had done a few weeks earlier. There 
we two refugees met for the first time, and there com- 
menced an intimate friendship which continued to the 
time of his death by assassination, which occurred at 
La Mesilla about ten years later. After the Confed- 
erates were driven from the frontier Mr. Lemon re- 
turned to his home, where he acquired wealth and pop- 
ularity, being repeatedly elected County Judge. One 
night in 1865 an express came to my house at El Paso 
with a note from Lemon requesting me to come imme- 
diately to La Mesilla, but without intimating why. I 
went at once, and Lemon explained that he had been 

71 



72 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 



slandered by Col. Samuel J. Jones (a neighbor) and 
that he was determined to make Jones retract or kill 
him. I called on Jones as Lemon's friend, and he re- 
ferred me to a young frontier lawyer then almost un- 
known but who has since become very wealthy and very 
prominent in the politics of the nation, attaining the 
very highest offices excepting only those of President 
and Vice President. 

This gentleman acted as Jones' friend, and it was due 
to his fairness and firmness that Jones signed a retrac- 
tion and a fight was avoided. I am proud to say that 
this friend of Jones' became my friend, and remains 
so to this day. This was Stephen B. Elkins. Of all 
the men of the frontier with whom I have been asso- 
ciated I liked John Lemon best, and I think him the 
most admirable character of them all. He possessed all 
the best qualities of the frontiersman with none of 
their vices. He was zvith us, but not of us. He was 
strictly temperate, perfect in habits and morals, and yet 
a genial, sympathetic companion and faithful friend, 
and behind a manner almost as modest and quiet as a 
Quaker's there rested a personal courage and resolu- 
tion equal to that of Andrew Jackson. In 1870 Mr. 
Lemon's party (the Republicans) had gained a county 
election, and while he was going to join the procession 
which was celebrating he was struck in the head with 
a bludgeon from behind and died a few days later. 



"BOB" CRANDALL AS A DAMPHOOL. 

While I was collector of customs at El Paso a good 
friend of mine, Captain Crandall, had been honorably 
discharged from the Union army and had located at 
Tucson. 

Crandall came to El Paso and stopped at my house 
and informed me that his father had died in Indiana 
and that he ("Bob") was en route there to get his por- 
tion of the estate, and he hoped to return pretty well 
fixed. After several months Bob returned, and came 
to my house looking dejected and rather seedy. He 
told me that others had administered on his father's es- 
tate before he arrived and had got away with it all 
and that he was destitute. 

I asked my friend what he proposed to do ? He said 
he would work his way back to Tucson and commence 
life anew. The next morning I asked him to accom- 
pany me to my office, and as we walked I said : "Bob, 
as soon as we get to the office I will write your ap- 
pointment as deputy collector of customs at Tucson at 
a salary of $i,8oo a year, and I will advance you a 
month's salary." My friend paused and when he spoke 
there were tears in his voice. "Mills," he said, "do you 
know that I am a Democrat?" "Yes," I replied, "but is 
that any reason why you should be a damphool?" 
"Well," replied the Captain, speaking slowly, "I don't 
know that it is, but sometimes it appears to me that it 
amoitnts to about the same thing.'' He got the ap- 
pointment and years later died at Tucson. I told this 
story to a mixed audience in a political speech at the 
Court House in El Paso, and feel sure that it did not 
gffend even the most enthusiastic Democrat. 

73 



ROBBERY OF MY HOUSE IN i865~INDIAN 

TRAILERS. 

In 1865 I lived, a bachelor, in a house which is still 
standing on the lot at the corner of San Francisco and 
Chihuahua streets. My sleeping room was in the 
southeast corner of the house with a window opening 
on the back yard (corral) to the south. My brother, E. 
A. Mills, and a negro servant slept in the back rooms of 
the house. 

One day a number of Mexicans were carrying and 
stacking adobes in that back yard and of course had 
left five thousand foot tracks. That night I locked the 
front door of my room as usual and went to visit some 
friends. On my return to my room about midnight I 
unlocked the door and struck a light, to find that every- 
thing movable which I had left in the room had been 
removed. Every article of clothing, bric-a-brac, a 
Mexican blanket worth $100, and all such articles as 
a gentleman keeps in his private room were gone. If 
any reader has had a similar experience he knows what 
a foolish, puzzled feeling comes over him on making the 
discovery. ; he first thinks he has gotten into the wrong 
room, then that somebody has played a practical joke on 
him, and must be at that moment watching and laugh- 
ing at him. Suddenly the unpleasant truth flashes upon 
him that he has been robbed. Such was my experience. 

Well, I awakened my brother, started him over the 
river for some Indian trailers, and then went to sleep. 
Two Indians came and lay down before my door till 
daybreak, and then called me and made an examina- 

U 



FORTY YEARS AT £L PASO. 75 

tion. They informed me that one lone thief had entered 
my room at the window and packed my property into 
a big round bundle, which he had lifted and dragged 
through the window. It was, of course, impossible to 
follow the thief's tracks through the corral where so 
many men had been tramping the previous day, but 
the Indians had seen a few of his footprints near the 
window, and that was enough. 

They started to walk slowly in a circle around my 
premises, going in opposite directions with their eyes 
fixed on the ground. Presently one of them whistled. 
He had found the trail. The Indians, and I with them, 
followed this trail for an hour, through many meander- 
ings, and finally arrived at an old adobe house near 
where the Pierson Hotel now stands. The ground was 
dry and none but an expert trailer could see a single 
track. The Indians walked around the house in a circle, 
at some distance from it, and informed me that the thief 
was inside, and refused to act further because they 
feared they might be assassinated by some of his pals. 
I entered the house and found two Mexican women, 
who told me that no man was there or had been there. 
I searched all the rooms and found no one, and so re- 
ported to the Indians. They said : "He went in. He 
did not come out. He is inside/' Making a more 
thorough search, I found the gentleman concealed in 
one of the rooms under a stack of beef hides. 

He was a noted thief of Juarez. None of the stolen 
articles were found on him or in the house. Our pris- 
ons were insecure and the courts were not much safer, 
and I turned the man over to the "boys," who some- 
how convinced him that this was not a good locality for 
him, and he was heard of no more. 

Several weeks later a Httle Mexican boy came to me 



76 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

greatly excited and told me that he had seen a corner 
of my Mexican blanket projecting from a little sandhill 
near the house where the thief had been caught. Every 
article which had been stolen was found tied in that 
blanket and uninjured. The Indians in going around 
the house to find any trail which might be going out 
had taken too wide a circle, or they would have found 
where the articles were buried. 




ATTEMPT AT ASSASSINATION IN 1867— A 

MYSTERY. 

In 1867 I lived in my home on San Antonio street, 
two blocks west of where the Court House now stands. 
There were two rooms opening on the street, one of 
which had a spare bed in it for guests and was never 
used by me. Back of this room, with a partition door 
between and with a door and window giving into the 
back yard, was my own private room — the room in 
which I habitually slept. My brother slept in another 
part of the house. Of course it was my habit to lock 
the door opening into the back yard, around which 
yard there was an adobe wall about six feet high. 

I had some bitter enemies among the Americans at 
that time, some avowed and others secret, as I after- 
ward learned. 

On the night in question I retired as usual in my 
own room, and, strangely enough, on this night of all 
nights, must have neglected to lock the door. I awoke 
during the night and for some reason which I have 
never been able to explain to myself, a fancy seized 
me to sleep in the guest's room. I went there, taking 
my pistol and candle, leaving my watch on the table 
and all my other belongings handy for any one who 
might come to take them, provided theft were the object. 
I supposed the back door to be locked, and closed the 
partition door between the guest's room and the bed- 
room I had left. I awoke again with a consciousness 
that some one was in the room. I had not heard any 
sound. I could not possibly see anything, yet I was sure 

77 



78 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

that I was not alone. I was wide awake, was not 
alarmed ; my feeling was rather one of wonder. 

I said aloud : "Wait a moment ; I will strike a light." 
I did so, and saw a man, in his shirt sleeves, going 
through the partition door into the bedroom, and closing 
it after him. I did not see his face. I seized my pistol 
and followed through my bedroom and heard some one 
scramble over the wall and into the street. Rain had 
fallen that night, and any man, in climbing into the back 
yard, must have soiled his hands with mud and dirt 
from the wall. 

I called my brother and we found that no article of 
my belongings had been disturbed, .but my pillow and 
bed clothes were smeared and blackened, and we dis- 
tinctly saw the prints of a man's fingers ! The object 
was clearly not theft. It is not usual to awaken a man 
to steal his property. That man's hand surely held a 
knife and he zvas feeling for my heart! I have always 
felt sure that the man who entered my room was not 
an enemy, but a hireling. But who was the instigator, 
and what the motive? That remains a mystery to this 
day. But to me a greater mystery still is ivhy did I 
change my room that night? Hoiv did I know that 
there was some one in the room where I was sleeping, 
when I could neither see him nor hear him? "Quein 
sabe" ! 



FATE OF MY CUSTOM-HOUSE DEPUTIES. 

Of the thirty or more young men who were from time 
to time employes of mine in this Customs District while 
I was collector (1863 to 1869), I believe only two are 
now living (1900), my brother, E. A. Mills of Mexico, 
and Maximo Aranda of San Elizario. Seven of them 
met violent deaths, four while in the service. Here is 
the record : Mills (no relative of mine), killed by Indians 
near Tucson in 1864; Virgil Marstin, killed by Indians 
near Silver City in 1865 ; John F. Stone, killed by In- 
dians near Fort Bowie in 1869; James Taylor, killed by 
robbers near where the El Paso smelter is now located, 
in 1866; Judge John Lemon, killed by a mob at Mesilla, 
N. M., in 1869; Moses Kelly, shot to death at Presidio 
del Norte, about 1870; Abraham Lyon, shot to death 
at Tucson; A. J. Fountain was recently murdered on 
the plains near Las Cruces, N. M., and A. H. French 
died insane in asylum at Austin. 




79 



CHANGE OF CUSTOMS DISTRICT— SAMUEL J. 
JONES. (1863.) 

My last military service was as quartermaster and 
commissary at District headquarters at Santa Fe, in 
1862. In the summer of that year, General Canby 
granted me a leave of absence for sixty days, and I vis- 
ited Washington City and received from President Lin- 
coln my commission as collector of customs along with 
his personal thanks and good wishes. 

The collection district of Paso del Norte then com- 
prised only the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, 
the collector's office being at Las Cruces, N. M. El 
Paso county belonged to the Galveston District, with a 
deputy at El Paso — A. B. O'Bannon, a Confederate. 
But Congress, at my suggestion, passed an act, approved 
March 3, 1863, attaching El Paso county to that dis- 
trict, ''Provided that the collector should reside at El 
Paso." Thus, by my efforts. El Paso became the perma- 
nent residence of collectors of customs, and as a result, 
later on, obtained its fine Government building! Col. 
Samuel J. Jones was then collector of customs at Las 
Cruces. This Jones was prominent and in some respects 
a remarkable character. He was the notorious ''Sheriff 
Jones" during the border troubles in Kansas in 1856, 
when the attempt was made to make Kansas a slave 
State, and was then called a "border ruffian." Jones 
was a man of education, of fine personal appearance, and 
with a reputation for courage which had never been 
questioned. It fell to my lot to be the first to call him 
down, and I did it successfully and still have the hostile 

80 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 81 

letters which passed between us, but I refrain from 
recording the particulars of that incident in my life. 
Jones had been appointed collector of customs by Presi- 
dent Buchanan, but had taken the side of secession. 

On my return from Washington, Jones refused to 
deliver to me the books and property of the ofifice, and 
correspondence, quarrels and threats followed, and we 
became bitter enemies. But he yielded what I de- 
manded. Twenty years later I met Colonel Jones at 
Silver City, old, poor and paralyzed, just able to walk 
about, but only able to articulate the words *'y^s, yes," 
and ''no, no." Knowing his condition, I gave him my 
hand, which he grasped eagerly, and that night he sig- 
nified to me that he desired me to occupy the same room 
with him, which I did. 




CAPTAINS SKILLMAN AND FRENCH. 

Capt. Henry Skillman resided near El Paso for many 
years previous to the Civil War. He was a Kentiickian, 
a man of magnificent physique, over six feet tah, wear- 
ing long, sandy hair and a beard flowing- to his girdle. 

He was an Indian fighter, mail contractor, and a guide 
and scout for the United States troops and for v/agon 
trains through the Indian country. He was the Kit 
Carson of this section. He was highly esteemed, almost 
beloved, by the people of the valley, of both races. 

He had one fault. At rare intervals he v/ould get very 
drunk and become wild and ride his horse into the stores 
and saloons of the village, firing his pistol the while, and 
order everybody to close up, as he desired to run the 
town himself. Then he would go home and sober up 
and come to town, pay the damages and apologize to 
every one and then go about his business. 

As an offset to this peculiarity he would not allow 
any other man to play the same role, when he was 
around. Once, when a stranger attempted it, and every- 
body, including the peace officers, was terrified. Skill- 
man was notified, and came up, sober, took away the 
ruffian's arms, boxed his jaws, and notified him to leave 
town, which he did. 

On another occasion, 1857, when my brother Anson 
had accused two El Paso men of counterfeiting, they 
plotted to assassinate him on the street, and then to 
swear that the killing was accidental. As they ap- 
proached my brother, pretending to be very drunk, 
Skillman saw and understood the maneuver, and, spring- 

82 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 



83 



ing to the rescue, called out : "Look out there, Mills ; 
they are going to kill you." 

When the secession talk commenced, it was known 
to me and to a few others that Skillman, although his 
associates were nearly all Confederates, inclined 
strongly to the Union side ; but he finally "went with 
his State," and in 1864 he, with a small band of Con- 
federates, was acting as a scout and keeping up com- 
munication between San Antonio and the Confederate 
colony at Juarez, Mexico, near El Paso. 

General Carleton, then in command of New Mexico, 
decided upon the capture of Skillman and his party, and 
for that service he selected Capt. Albert H. French, of 
the California Volunteer Cavalry. 

General Carleton was present at El Paso when 
French left on this dangerous expedition, and I KNOW 
that he gave French special instructions to bring Skill- 
man in alive "if possible," and I know the reason for 
this order. 

French was a Boston man. He was as large and as 
well formed as Skillman, and, like him, was of sandy 
complexion, hair and beard. 

Skillman and his party were near Presidio del Norte 
en route for Juarez when Captain French (himself un- 
seen) discovered them and watched them go into camp 
(April 3, 1864). 

At midnight, French, with a portion of his little com-^ 
mand, including two citizens of San Elizario, crazvled 
into Skillman's camp, and, rising to their feet, called for 
surrender. Skillman arose, armed, and refused, when 
French shot him dead. 

In the volley which followed two more of Skillman's 
party were killed and two wounded. The others sur- 
rendered and were brought to San Elizario. 



84 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

There were citizens of El Paso county in each of these 
parties, some of whom are still living. 

I regret to see that Col. George W. Baylor has been 
led, by false information, no doubt, into doing some 
injustice to the memory of the gallant Captain French. 

In a late communication to the El Paso Herald the 
colonel says : "Captain French killed or rather mas- 
sacred Capt. James Skillman, who was in the C. S. A. 
and on picket duty in the Davis mountains. They had 
been personal friends, and through treachery French 
had located Skillman and killed him. It has been said 
that the matter so preyed on French's mind that it be- 
came unbalanced before his death." 

Colonel Baylor is himself an old soldier, justly proud 
of his record, and he should be careful not to place too 
much reliance on the statements of others. It is impos- 
sible that French and Skillman could have been 
''friends," as the colonel states, because they had never 
met each other till that fateful night. And again, the 
colonel shows lack of information by speaking of Skill- 
man as "James" instead of Henry. 

Captain French's conduct was soldierly and com- 
mendable. 



FURNISHING ARMS TO MEXICO— 1865. 

Early in 1865, when the Mexican patriots, under 
President Juarez, were hard pressed by the French 
trooos and the forces of the usurping Emperor Maxniiil- 
ian my friend, Don Juan Zubiran, then collector of cus- 
toms at Juarez, brought a gentleman to my office and 
introduced him as a confidential agent of the Mexican 

government. 

This gentleman did not hesitate to confide to me that 
his mission was to purchase arms and ammunition for 
use against the invaders of his country. This was a 
delicate matter because, if United States officials favored 
his scheme, it might have involved our government m 
difftculty or even war with France, with which country 
we were' friendly, although all loyal Americans, from 
the President down, sympathized deeply with Mexico 
in her struggle for existence. I could not betray this 
o-entleman's secret, and he proceeded to Santa Fe, New 
Mexico, where Gen. James H. Carleton was m com- 
mand of the United States troops, and thence to Wash- 
in o-ton City ; and it was not long before several hundred 
stands of arms in New Mexico were condemned as 
beino- ''unserviceable" and were moved down to Las 
Gruel's fifty miles north of El Paso, and advertised for 
sale at public auction. These rifles, with ammunition 
were purchased bv mv friend, Don Juan Zubiran, and 
were to be delivered to the Governor of Sonora at Con- 
alitos in the State of Chihuahua, near the Sonora Ime, 
and were to be received and paid for there. Somehow 
these arms found their way over the boundary Ime to 

85 



^^ FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

Conalitos, and now comes the interesting part of their 
story — if it has any interest at all. 

Mr. Zubiran was about to send an express to Her- 

misillo, the capital of Sonora, to notify Governor 

that the arms were ready for delivery, but it would have 
been a long and dangerous journey, and as I had a 
deputy collector of customs (one McWard) at Tucson 
nearer Hermisillo, Mr. Zubiran requested me to forward 
his letter under cover to McWard, and ask him to send 

It by messenger to Governor and ask him to 

reply through the same channels. This was done, and in 
due time there came a reply to Mr. Zubiran, written on 
the printed letter-head paper of the "Executive of the 
State of Sonora," signed by the Governor, and to every 
appearance genuine. But the contents of this letter were 
startling. It stated that the Governor regretted that 
he could not receive or pay for the arms ; that the Mex- 
ican cause was hopeless, and it advised my friend Zubi- 
ran (than whom Mexico had no stancher patriot) to 
give in his allegiance to the Empire of Maximilian ! 

We were astounded; but there was the fact in plain 
black and white. 

Some weeks later an express rider came in great haste 
from the Governor of Sonora, with a letter to Mr. Zubi- 
ran, asking why such delay about the rifles, and urging 
haste, and stating that the money to pay for them was 
already at Conalitos. 

We finally got at the explanation of this chapter of 
misunderstandings. A former Governor of Sonora had 
espoused the cause of Maximilian, had fled from his 
country, and taken refuge at Tucson, carrying with him 
some of the stationery of the State, and had become inti- 
mate with Deputy McWard, who had betrayed to him 
the contents of Zubiran's letter, thus enabling him to pre- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 8* 

pare and forward the bogus reply, with such appearance 

of genuineness. 

The arms were delivered and paid for, and it is need- 
less to state that the faithless Deputy McWard lost his 
official head. 






PRESIDENT JUAREZ' GOVERNMENT AT CIU- 
DAD JUAREZ, NEAR EL PASO— 1865-66. 

For more than a year, in 1865 and 1866, the village of 
Paso del Norte (now Ciudad Juarez), opposite El Paso, 
was the actual capital of the Mexican Republic. Benito 
Juarez, the patriot President, with his Cabinet and a lit- 
tle remnant of his army, had been driven from his capital 
by the French troops and the Mexican adherents of 
Maximilian, and were making a last stand on this fron- 
tier, the French troops having possession of the city of 
Chihuahua, only two hundred and twenty-five miles to 
the southward. 

The writer happened at that time to occupy the most 
important United States of^ce on the frontier. lie 
spoke Juarez's own language well, and Juarez knew 
that he sympathized as deeply with the republican cause 
in Mexico as the Mexican President sympathized with 
the cause of the Republic of the United States, Our 
Government had at that time no minister near the Juarez 
Government, I visited the President very often. Was it 
strange if we held many conversations, in which each 
confided to the other his hopes and fears, as to the suc- 
cess or failure of the two simultaneous efforts then being 
made to destroy the avo greatest Republics in the 
world — our own countries? In January, 1866, I in- 
formed President Juarez tliat I contemplated a journey 
to Washington City, and before I started he confided 
to me a letter to the Mexican Minister, Sehor Romero, 
and also one to his wife, who, with her two daughters, 
were then at Romero's house in Washington, refugees 
from their own country. 

88 



A VISIT TO WASHINGTON— POLITICAL CON- 
TESTS. 

This journey was made by stage coach via Santa Fe 
as far as Kansas City, thirteen hundred miles, in mid- 
winter, and was not without interesting incidents, one 
of which I will relate. We left Santa Fe with six pas- 
sengers. Judge S. Watts, two young ladies, two mer- 
chants and myself. There was also the stage driver and 
the driver of a wagon which carried our provisions and 
baggage. The weather, for the greater portion of the 
time, was intensely cold, the ground being covered with 
snow. We slept under a roof only twice during, the 
journey of twelve days. 

My brother, Anson Mills, was then a cavalry captain 
in the army, but I had not heard from him for many 
months, and had not the slightest idea in what part of 
the country he might be. One very cold day, about 
noon, when approaching the Arkansas River, we met a 
train of wagons bound for Santa Fe, and the wagon- 
master informed us that he had the day before been 
attacked by a party of Indians at the crossing of the 
Arkansas, but had stood them off, and had moved on, 
uninjured. He advised us to return to Santa Fe, but, 
incredible as it may seem, we decided to proceed on our 
journey. I do not call this courage; to me, after so 
many years, it appears more hke foolhardiness ! 

Nearing the river, but before we could see down into 
the valley, we saw, far to our right, and apparently flank- 
ing us, two men v/ith rifles, vvhom we supposed might 
be Indians. 

89 



90 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

The coach was hahed, we four male passengers, with 
our arms, moved toward the strangers and beckoned 
them to approach. They did so, and I soon recognized 
the famihar uniform of United States soldiers ! I asked, 
''Where are you camped?" Reply: ''Down yonder at 
the crossing." "Who is in command?" "Captain 
Mills." "What Mills?" ''Captain Anson Mills/' 

The ladies slept that night in the captain's tent and 
we brothers, by the camp fire, told each other our adven- 
tures since we had separated at El Paso, five years 
before, each to take his chances in the desperate game 
of war. 

Captain Mills gave me his application for promotion 
to present at Washington, and after the stage had 
started he called to me : "Get me a leave of absence, 
and I will go to Washington and return your visit." 

Arrived in Washington, I presented the application 
for promotion to Gen. John B. Steedman, who indorsed 
it thus : "Captain Mills served on my staff for three 
years. He is the best officer of his rank I ever knew; 
intelligent, efficient and fearless. I recommend him for 
promotion." 

A few days later I went with some New Mexican 
friends to call on General Grant, who was then Secre- 
tary of war. I told the General about meeting my 
brother, and asked a leave of absence for him. The Gen- 
eral replied that such applications must come through 
the regular channels. I showed the Secretary the appli- 
cation for promotion, with Steedman's indorsement, and 
told him something of our troubles at El Paso at the 
outbreak of the Rebellion. He read the papers and 
seemed pleased, but continued talking with my friends 
and dispatching business. On rising to take our leave, 
I told General Grant that I was sorry not to meet my 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 91 

brother at Washington, but I could not complain, as I 
saw good reasons for the refusal. To which he replied : 
*The telegram has gone, sir ; your brother will be here 
in a few days." 

He came, and got his promotion also. 

Soon after this I was summoned to the State Depart- 
ment for an interview with the Secretary, William H. 
Seward. He asked many questions about President 
Juarez and his cause, and about the real sentiment of the 
Mexican people, and about their probable ability to 
drive Maximilian and the French out of Mexico ''with- 
out assistance." 

Mr. Seward asked me about our consul at Juarez, 
Henry J. Cuniffe. I replied that he was an able and 
patriotic gentleman. 

The Secretary then said that in the absence of the 
United States Minister, our consul ought to have an 
extra allowance of money for expenses during the Mex- 
ican President's stay at Juarez, and asked me what 
amount I thought would be sufficient. 

I replied $2,500 a quarter, and the Secretary said that 
would not be too much, and if the consul would make 
requisitions they would be honored. 

I wrote my friend Cunifit'e immediately. 

This was before the days of ^'Retrenchment and Re- 
form." 

Now came one of my hardest battles. My term of 
four years as collector of customs at El Paso, under 
Lincoln, was about to expire, and there was objection to 
my reappointment — there always is — but in this case 
there was a serious charge of misconduct in office to the 
effect that I had permitted the exportation of large 
quantities of arms and ammunition from my district into 
Mexico to be used against the French, in violation of 



92 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 



the instructions from my own Government and the 
neutrahty laws; and ''on the face of the retm-ns" the 
charge appeared to be true, and my enemies beHeved my 
defeat certain. 

Andrew Johnson was President. When I called on 
him, with some friends, to make my formal application, 
we met, by an awkward accident, a delegation of my 
enemies, and we "had it out" then and there. I stated 
my own case, and though the President was noncom- 
mittal, I felt sure of reappointment, though my friends 
did not. A few days afterward, when Judge Watts was 
talking to the President on other subjects, the President 
said : "Judge, where is your young friend from Texas ? 
Is this his appointment which I signed to-day?" When 
told that it was, he said : "I intended from the first to 
appoint him. I like that young man." 

In the Senate there was opposition to my confirma- 
tion. Senator Conness of California made a sensational 
speech against me in executive session, and presented 
*vhat he called "proof." I saw the Senator personally and 
made some explanations, which it is not necessary, or 
proper, to repeat here, and he withdrew his opposition 
and moved my confirmation, and I was unanimously 
confirmed. 

In May, 1866, the President's private secretary. Col. 
Henry Cooper, asked the Texas Republicans then in 
Washington to agree upon some Texan to be appointed 
"Visitor to West Point." 

These appointments are strictly Presidential, not 
requiring confirmation by the Senate, and are much 
desired and sought after, being considered a high honor 
and a special favor from the chief executive of the 
nation. We met and selected a very distinguished 
Texan, Judge George W. Paschal, and sent up his 
name. 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 93 

A few days later Colonel Cooper said to one of our 
friends : "The President does not like the selection of 
Paschal. He says he is going to appoint Mills. Tell 
Mills to come and see him." I called and thanked the 
President, and had some conversation with him, but 
later gave my brother, Capt. Anson Mills, a letter to the 
President, requesting him to substitute his name for 
mine, which was done. 

I have known and conversed with four Presidents — 
Lincoln, Johnson, Grant and McKinley — and have held 
office under all of them ; but I knew Andy Johnson best, 
and I liked the rugged, stubborn Southerner, who had 
stood firm as a rock against rebellion in his own sec- 
tion. If I had been older, or bolder, I am vain enough 
to believe I might possibly have been of service to him. 
He had inherited his Cabinet from Mr. Lincoln, and 
some of them were, from the start, not very devoted to 
him personally. He was being flattered and cajoled by 
his late enemies, and he had been fretted and angered 
by certain Republican leaders, ''wise men of the East," 
who believed that no good could come out of Nazareth, 
and he was about to make the mistake of his life — the 
break with his party. I was pleased when, years later, 
he came to the United States Senate, supported by the 
votes of his best and truest friends — the Union people 
of Tennessee. 



RECONSTRUCTION— CONSTITUTIONAL CON- 
VENTION OF 1868-69. 

In 1868 I was elected to represent El Paso county in 
the State Constitutional Convention, which was to meet 
at Austin in May of that year, to frame a constitution 
under which Texas might be readmitted into the Union. 
At the start I was opposed for that ofhce by Major 
Joseph Smith, a popular Democrat, who had been hon- 
orably discharged from the United States military serv- 
ice at El Paso, but early in the contest I badgered him 
into saying that if he found a single "Nigger" in the 
convention, he would resign. 

I then suggested to the Mexican audience that if he 
had that much race prejudice, he would not do to repre- 
sent them. Major Smith soon saw certain defeat before 
him, and withdrew, and I was unanimously elected. 

During April of that year, I went in a buggy, with a 
single companion, Hon. W. P. Bacon, Judge of our dis- 
trict, to San Antonio, en route to Austin, seven hundred 
and forty miles, in seventeen days, without change of 
animals (two horses). We ''camped out" and did our 
own cooking, and traveled much at night, because 
marauding Indians were then abundant on that route. 
I arrived at Austin a total stranger to every soul in that 
capital. The convention had ninety delegates, only ten 
of whom were Democrats. There were nine colored del- 
egates, a large contingent of carpetbaggers, and several 
new recruits to the Republican party, who claimed from 
the day of their conversion to be more ''loyal" to that 
party than any of us. But about one-half of the body 

94 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 95 

were able, representative, old-time Texans, who had 
taken the Union side of the secession question and had 
become Republicans. These were led by Gov. A. J. 
("Jack") Hamilton, a man of Southern birth, once a 
slave-owner, who had been from the start the most 
prominent, boldest and most eloquent of the Union men 
of Texas, if not of the whole South. He was a member 
of Congress in 1861, and denounced secession both there 
and at home, and later was appointed a brigadier general 
and Provisional Governor of Texas by President Lin- 
coln, and had gained a national reputation as an orator. 
And now the usual thing happened. "He who surpasses 
or subdues mankind must look down on the hate of 
those below." The small men in the convention com- 
bined to down the greatest one. 

A resolution was passed the first day of the conven- 
tion, without opposition, requiring all delegates to take 
what was then known as the "Ironclad Oath." This 
would have excluded several delegates who had, in one 
way or another, given aid and comfort to the rebellion. 
The next day. Mills of El Paso, a Republican, moved 
to reconsider that resolution and to admit all who had 
been elected by the people. He urged that we were not 
officers of the United States, but of Texas, and scarcely 
that, because we could do nothing which would bind any 
one. Our work would have to be approved by the peo- 
ple, and then by Congress, etc., etc. 

Governor Hamilton came to the rescue and Mills' 
motion was passed and all elected delegates were admit- 
ted. (The published records of the convention bear out 
the above statement.) And now the first charge was 
heard against Governor tiamilton, both in Texas and at 
Washington, that he had "sold out to the rebels." 

The opponents of Governor Hamilton had the tact to 



96 FORTY YEARS A T EL PASO. 

put forward, as their leader, Col. E. J. Davis, a Texas 
Union man, who had done good service during the war, 
and against whom nothing can be said except that he 
was inordinately ambitious, vain, vindictive, and that he 
was then, and for years after, surrounded and influenced 
by as lordly a set of unscrupulous adventurers as ever 
tyrannized over or wronged the people of any Southern 
State. He and Morgan Hamilton, a brother of Jack 
Hamilton, were almost the only leaders of respectability 
in the whole "Davis party." 

The three questions upon which the Davis Republi- 
cans and the Hamilton Republicans wrangled so long in 
that convention were these : 

1st. Davis contended that all who had participated in 
the Rebellion should be disfranchised. Hamilton op- 
posed. 

2d. Davis contended that all laws passed by the Leg- 
islature during the Rebellion were null and void, ab 
initio. 

Hamilton contended that only such laws as contra- 
vened the Constitution and laws of the United States 
were void. 

3d. Davis contended for a division of Texas into 
three States, and Hamilton opposed. 

(The proposition to divide Texas was finally killed on 
motion of the writer of these chapters, and if any Texan 
thinks that the State was not then in danger of being 
divided, let him remember old Virginia.) 

Hamilton won on all three of these propositions, and 
a constitution v/as framed in accordance with his views, 
and submitted to the people. I quote below a report of 
the last day's stormy session of this memorable conven- 
tion, by Whilden, the brilliant correspondent of the 
Galveston News : 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 97 



"TEXAS CONVENTION. 



"Austin, Texas, February 8, 1869. 
"Special to the Galveston News. 

"Precisely at what point to begin I am in doubt. This 
convention, which we thought was to give civil govern- 
ment to Texas and to which we necessarily attached 
some dignity, has in the end proved itself to be a farce 
on the civilization of the nineteenth century. Jack Ham- 
ilton and a few others did all that genius could do to 
turn its purposes to legitimate ends. Partially they 
failed ; but in that failure they left the impress of brains 
upon the wild waste of passion which this convention 
has given to the world. * * h? ^\\ mortal things 
shall ever have an ending, and this convention is as all 
other mortal things. 

"Strategic movements on the part of Davis and Ham- 
ilton have filled up the time. Between these two men 
there can be no comparison. * * * 

"On last Friday night the cloud burst, and for a few 
moments the curse of heaven seemed to hang as a pillar 
of flame over the convention hall. 

"Stern as Davis is, he quivered when Mills of El Paso 

tore from his bosom the thin gauze with which he hoped 

to hide the dark, selfish and damning purposes of his 

heart. Yes, he quivered, but it was for a while only. 

The devil never deserts his own for a long time at once. 

Davis rallied and poured the long pent-up passion of 

his heart upon Mills. Confusion ensued. The issue was 

now made. Davis was right and Mills very wrong, or 

Davis was wrong and Mills the Nemesis of the night. 

A majority of the convention agreed with Mills. But 

Davis has his tools. The convention had one more than 

a quorum. This quorum must be broken or Davis meets 
7 



98 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

a Waterloo defeat. Two of Davis tools resigned their 
seats then and there. Thus was a quorum, under the 
standing rules, broken, and fortune for a while declared 
for Davis. 

''But Hamilton was not thus to be defeated. He 
brought all his forces up against the political traitors, 
raised a point of order as to whether a quorum con- 
sisted of a majority of ninety members, which the con- 
vention ought to have had, had every delegate been in 
his seat, or of a majority of those who, at that time, were 
entitled to seats. Plausibility and common sense were 
on Hamilton's side. Davis' wrath was terrible. Mills 
must be punished. The convention could not see it 
through his spectacles, and he ordered the sergeant-at- 
arms to take Mills in custody. It was a wordy order. 
Davis, seeing his inevitable defeat, on his own motion, 
declared that the convention, as no quorum was present, 
stood adjourned till next day at lo o'clock, and, with 
the mien of a lieutenant of his satanic majesty, left the 
rostrum. 

''Before he had gotten half way down the aisle, Arm- 
strong of Lamar had been elected president. Davis 
ordered the doorkeeper to open the doors so that mem- 
bers could go out. The doorkeeper refused. 

"Then ensued a scene which cannot be described. 
Hamilton arose and spoke under all the excitement of 
the evening — spoke as only those can speak who are 
orators born — spoke until, if I had been in Davis' place, 
I would have prayed that the capitol might crush upon 
me and hide my awful shame." 

The constitution was then adopted as a whole and this 
revolutionary attempt to break up the convention and 
prevent the reconstruction of the State and her readmis- 
sion into the Union met a humiliating defeat. 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 99 

The good General Canby, being then in command of 
the Department, approved of our course of action and 
submitted the constitution to the people. 

Three days later, February 8, 1869, at Austin, Texas, 
the writer married Mary, eldest daughter of Governor 
A. J. Hamilton, who in this year of Grace 1900, still 
abides with him ; but that is "another story," which he 
reserves for a later chapter. 




LoFO. 



HAMILTON-DAVIS CONTEST OF 1869— 
ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTION. 

The reader may think it strange that I give so much 
space to so common an occurrence as a State election, 
but the explanation is simple. It was the first reasonable 
attempt to carry our State back into the Union. The 
Democrats had made one effort and had failed, because 
they had offended the dominant sentiment of the coun- 
try by "Apprentice Laws," and other measures which 
virtually reduced the freedman to a state of slavery, and 
by electing to the United States Senate a man who had 
presided over the convention which carried Texas out of 
the Union. Because of this failure, the Democrats, as a 
party, took no part in the second effort to reconstruct 
-the State, but divided, those of them who voted at all, 
between the two Republican candidates. 

Thousands of them sullenly refused to vote at all. It 
was therefore a contest between men and ideas. The 
questions were all new. True^ there have been many 
State elections since then, but the results have all been 
foregone conclusions, so that the younger generation of 
Texans know nothing of the excitement, the strenuous- 
ness, the manliness, of a real contest for the political 
control of a great State. 

Davis and his party publicly denounced this constitu- 
tion as being ''framed in the interest of rebels," and 
swore to defeat it either before the people or at Wash- 
ington. Will the reader believe that a month later these 
same men publicly declared in favor of this same consti- 
tution, and for E. J. Davis as their candidate for Gov- 
ernor under it? But that is history. 

100 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 101 

Hamilton also became a candidate for Governor. 
Gen. J. J. Reynolds was in command of the Department 
of Texas, and the elections were held under military 
supervision. Although both candidates were Repub- 
licans, General Reynolds and others secured the support 
of the national administration and the Republican Na- 
tional Committee for the Davis faction. 

This Reynolds, a stranger to the people of Texas, 
desired to make himself United States Senator from the 
State, and with that purpose in view, permitted the 
frauds which defeated Hamilton, and he (Reynolds) 
declared Davis elected by a majority of only seven hun- 
dred votes, several whole counties being denied by Rey- 
nolds the right to vote at all. The Davis Legislature 
did, later on, elect this same J. J. Reynolds to be Sena- 
tor, but the Senate of the United States refused to admit 
him, and he was subsequently suspended from the army 
by sentence of a court-martial ! 

The State was admitted to the Union, Davis was in- 
augurated, and the notorious Twelfth Legislature con- 
vened. I had the honor to be elected a member of that 
memorable body, and also had the honor to be counted 
out by Reynolds. 




MARRIAGE AND JOURNEY TO MY EL PASO 

HOME. 

I do not know why it is that only in novels and 
posthumous writings do men speak much of their wives, 
and even the novel usually ends where I think it should 
begin, with the marriage. The man who writes of his 
own career usually treats the most important event of 
his life incidentally or in a casual way, and if he praises 
any woman it is usually his mother. I suppose there 
must be some good reason for this general rule, and I 
deviate from it only to say that for a third of a century 
my wife has been the best, the truest and the most con- 
stant friend I have known, and if these writings shall 
have any interest for even a few friendly readers^ it will 
be largely due to the fact that she is still by my side, aid- 
ing me with her intelligent criticism and her finer fancy. 

Well, on the 8th day of February, 1869, we were mar- 
ried, she, surrounded by her family and the friends of 
her youth, and a few disappointed beaux, and I, attended 
by Generals Canby and Carleton, with whom I had 
served in the army, and the Hon. William P. Bacon, 
then Judge of the El Paso District, who, though he 
encountered misfortune later on, was, I believe, an 
honest man and a true friend. Camped in a grove near 
the Hamilton residence was the ''outfit" which had 
brought me from El Paso, consisting of an ambulance 
made by Dougherty of St. Louis, especially for such 
journeys over the plains, and much more comfortable 
and better adapted for ladies and families than even the 
fine, large Concord stage coaches. It would "make up" 

102 



FORTY YEARS AT EL P A.SO. 103 

at night like a berth in a Pullman palace car. My pair of 
fine, large Kentucky mules, "Seymour" and "Blair," 
which were mine for ten years, hauled us over this 
long route four different times without fault or accident. 
"Johnnie," my faithful, watchful driver and companion, 
was on hand, and also a "Mozo" (Mexican servant) and 
a saddle horse. My other team of four horses awaited 
us at Fort Stockton, midway of the route, where the 
mules were to be left, to follow later to El Paso. The 
ambulance was a little arsenal. I had a repeating rifle, 
a shotgun and a pistol, and Johnnie a rifle and pistol. 

The day after the wedding, I called on General Canby 
and asked for an escort of ten infantrymen and a Govern- 
ment wagon and team. The soldiers and our baggage 
and provisions were to ride in the wagon and the team 
was to be changed at each military post. The General 
at first suggested that I might take advantage of the 

escort of a certain army officer, Captain , whom 

we had both known in New Mexico, and whom I had 
once reported to the General as being unfaithful to his 
country. (I would not have objected to an out and out 
Confederate.) When I declined to travel with this gen- 
tleman, Canby replied : "Yes, I remember. You shall 
have an escort of your own." 

And now we started westward over the long road of 
more than seven hundred miles to our El Paso home, 
Vv'here my wife was to see no familiar face except my 
own. But we had youth, and health, and hope, and self- 
reliance, and a faith in human nature, which, I regret to 
say, subsequent experience did not justify. But enough 
of that. 

During the whole journey of twenty-three days we 
slept under a roof only three nights, and usually mad^ 
our camp away from the mail stations (which could 



104 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

afford us no accommodations, anyhow), and in order 
to have better pasture for the animals. 

Here let me say a word in behalf of the much-abused 
mule. You have been told that he will kick the hat off 
your head while you are on his back. This is a slander. 
A horse will kick when he is violently and cruelly 
treated, but a mule very seldom does, and ours were as 
gentle as pet dogs. They roamed unfettered and un- 
tethered about the camp day and night, but would come 
in at call. 

On the Concho River we encountered herds of buf- 
falo, now extinct in Texas, not so many as I had often 
seen on the Northern plains, but many — hundreds and 
thousands. 

I never had the desire, as many had, to wantonly 
butcher these lubberly animals, but almost every man 
has inherited the hunter's instinct, and I indulged it to 
some extent, making the excuse that we needed fresh 
meat, as indeed we did. 

Shooting antelope was far better sport, but these, 
like the buffalo and the wild deer and the Indian, will soon 
be but traditions, and there will be no frontier at all. 
Mrs. Mills had never seen an antelope, and the first one 
I shot fell some distance from the ambulance, and I 
called out, with some pride, "Send a couple of men to 
bring in this antelope." She repeated my command, 
mimicking my voice and manner, and then said, *'Why 
don't you pick the thing up and bring it yourself?" She 
said she supposed it was about the size of a jack-rabbit. 

A few days later I alone killed three of these animals 
within three hundred yards of our "train," and in less 
than half a minute. There were a hundred or more of 
them on the flat top of a little hill, and I climbed to the 
top unseen, and with a repeating rifle fired into the 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 105 

bunch at about thirty yards. They ran toward me, and 
I fired seven shots in quick succession with the result 
given above. The frightened, crazy herd of beautiful 
animals ran toward our little "train" and passed on each 
side of it and the colored soldier fired about twenty 
shots at them, but not one took efifect. Although it was 
midwinter, the weather was pleasant with the exception 
of two or three cold days. There was no snow or rain 
on this whole trip. 

At that time, thirty years ago, small bands of maraud- 
ing Indians might be expected almost anywhere, and 
particularly as we approached the Rio Grande, and our 
chief care was to guard against surprise, which was 
almost our only danger. We saw none on this journey, 
but we passed several scenes of bloody tragedies, some 
of them quite recent. When we descended into the valley 
of the Rio Grande I pointed to a Mexican "jacal" and 
told Mrs. Mills that was the style of house we were to 
live in. She was silent for a long time, but when we drove 
up to my comfortable, well-furnished little home on 
San Antonio street, with the shade trees in front, and 
she set her feet upon the first plank floor ever laid 
down in El Paso, and saw the preparations which my 
good friend and neighbor, Mrs. Zabriskie, had made for 
her reception and comfort, she brightened up wonder- 
fully. 

Yes, other famihes also crossed these plains, but 
they were either army people for whom the Government 
furnished teams and provisions and attendants and pro- 
tection, or others who traveled in the dusty rear of 
some freight train at a speed of about ten miles a day. 
Our voyages were mostly made independently, com- 
fortably, and speedily, and without a single accident. 



106 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

All depends upon thorough preparation, good judgment 
and constant vigilance. 

Mrs. Mills' reception by the people of both races and 
on both sides of the river was very flattering, and I am 
sure it was sincere, and we spent nearly a year very 
happily at El Paso, but now (November, 1869) it was 
thought best that I should return to Austin to assist 
General Hamilton in his contest for the Grovernorship 
and control of the State. We returned with the same 
outfit with which we had come, except that we had no 
military escort, and Colonel Zabriskie went as our guest. 

Soon after we left Fort Davis we saw far to our right 
a party of mounted Indians, how many we could not 
tell, but certainly too many for our small party. A com- 
pany of infantry soldiers had left Fort Davis, going 
eastward, an hour before we did, and we had passed 
them on the road, so we knew they could not be far be- 
hind us, and we halted to await their arrival. The In- 
dians also halted and gave us a free exhibition of fancy 
horsemanship and curious antics, until the gleaming 
rifles of the troops appeared on the road, when they 
scurried away around the mountain. We traveled in 
company with the soldiers until we reached Fort Stock- 
ton. 

A year before I had sent five hundred gallons of wine 
of my own manufacture to each of the military posts, 
Davis and Stockton, and on arriving we found that it 
had all been sold at $5 per gallon, and Mrs. Mills stuffed 
the greenbacks into her little handsatchel for future 
use. 

The postmaster at Fort Concho, "Ji"^" Trainer, 
whom I had never seen, had threatened to whip me on 
sight because he had been told that I had said he gave 
false receipts to the Mail Company, as other postmas- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 107 

ters had done. After we got into camp near Concho 
I told my wife that I would go up to the sutler's store 
and see Mr. Trainer, and I remember her cheery words 
to me as I walked away : ''Look out for yourself !" 

Arrived at the store I entered and asked for Mr. 
Trainer. A good-looking, good-natured gentleman be- 
hind the counter replied that he was the man, and when 
I told him who I was he hesitated awhile and then in- 
vited me into the office, gave me a chair and a cigar, 
and after we had chatted awhile he asked me if I knew 
he had intended to thrash me. I told him yes, but that 
I had never spoken unkindly of him and did not know 
anything about his acts as postmaster. He said he had 
been the victim of liars, and presented me with a bottle 
of fine brandy and wished me a pleasant journey. 
Trainer was not a coward but had been played upon by 
my enemies. 




ASSAULT BY KUHN AT FREDRICKSBURG. 

When we arrived at Fredricksburg, sixty-five miles 
west of Austin, where Mr. Zabriskie left us for San An- 
tonio, we stopped at Nimmit's Hotel for a day's rest, 
and Mrs. Mills and I were given a room upstairs. Dur- 
ing the day I met in the hall of the hotel Albert Kuhn, 
who has been mentioned in my war story as the man 
who piloted the party of Texas soldiers who kidnapped 
me in Juarez in 1861, and who had received the reward 
for my capture. Kuhn had left El Paso with the Con- 
federates in 1862, and I had not seen or heard of him 
for eight years. Kuhn was a very large man of rough 
and almost frightful appearance, and prided himself on 
being considered bad. He was a prototype of Mark 
Twain's "Mr. Arkansas." We passed each other with- 
out speaking, but when we met a second time in the 
back yard Kuhn said: ''Mills, don't you know me?" I 
replied: "Yes." "Then why didn't you speak to me?" 
"Because I did not wish to do so." Kuhn then went 
to the bar and proceeded to get himself drunk. I told 
"Johnnie" what had occurred and instructed him to 
harness the team and be ready to proceed on our jour- 
ney. I told my wife that Kuhn was at the hotel and 
that there might be trouble. I went down stairs again, 
armed, of course, and met Kuhn, but he made no dem- 
onstration. Mrs. Mills and I then went to the ambu- 
lance, Johnnie being already on the box, and Mrs. 
Mills got inside, but before I could take my seat Kuhn 
appeared with a cocked pistol in his hand and swore 
great oaths that if I did not get out he wo'uld kill 
me where I was. 

108' 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 109 

What could I do ? My wife was in as much danger 
as myself, so I attempted to descend from the carriage 
and make the best fight possible, but Mrs. Mills had 
more presence of mind than I, and catching hold of 
me she said to Kuhn : "You cowardly murderer, would 
you kill a man in the presence of his wife? Get away 
from here." Kuhn said he had great respect for ladies, 
but swore that he would kill me the first time we met. 
But we never met. If we had my opinion is that the 
chances would have been against him. 

We drove only a few miles that evening and camped 
for the night about a quarter of a mile from the road 
and thinking that Kuhn might follow, I took position 
with my shotgun at a tree near the road and waited 
to give him both barrels of buckshot as soon as he 
should turn the corner of the fence. My old friend. 
Judge Cooley of Fredricksburg, says that Kuhn did 
saddle his horse that night and swore he would follow 
and kill me, but was restrained by others. 

Now, what did this man want to quarrel with me 
about? I was the one who had been wronged. I give 

it up. 

We arrived at Austin safe and well. The election re- 
sulted in the defeat of the Hamilton party as related 
elsewhere, and I made a campaign of several months in 
Washington City, where, though the wrong could not 
be fully righted, I was of some service to some of our 
defeated friends, and was somewhat successful in a busi- 
ness matter. 



THIRD VOYAGE OVER THE PLAINS— ENE- 
MIES AND PLOTS. 

And now, April, 1871, we again turned our faces 
toward our El Paso home, in the hope of recuperating 
in other business what we had lost in politics, for my 
expenses had been very heavy. 

I still held my town lots, and having faith in the 
future of El Paso I took out a license as a real estate 
agent ten years before any one else. "Seymour" and 
"Blair" and the amublance were still on hand, and I 
purchased another pair of very large mules (which we 
named "Insect" and "Fairy") and a wagon for our 
baggage, provision, etc., and employed two Mexican 
drivers. "Johnnie" was absent this time, but the Mozo, 
Lorenzo was still with us. The most important and in- 
teresting personage in our party was Hamilton Mills, 
aged twelve months, who had joined our family at 
Austin. 

Governor Davis had given El Paso a new District 
Judge, S. B. Newcomb, and a new District Attorney, J. 
P. Hague, neither of whom had ever been heard of on 
the frontier. These and two adventurers asked per- 
mission to join our party, which was granted, and 
these four "tenderfeet" made the journey with us in 
a wagon drawn by two little mules. Our ideas as to 
traveling over the plains were so different that we 
sometimes separated for a day or night. They fondly 
believed that a "station" was a place where warm meals 
and clean beds and forage for animals were to be had, 
and their greatest anxiety was to "get in." We de- 

110 



FORTY YiEARS AT EL PASO. Ill 

pended upon our mess chest for ourselves, and grassy 
camps for our animals, and fared much better. 

Much depends upon selecting a good camp, and some 
of ours were very pleasant, and even beautiful, so that 
we had the appearance of a picnic party. I remember 
that sometimes we have made a long drive in order 
to reach some remembered nook where we had spent 
a night on former journeys, and we would drive into it 
with a feeling akin to coming home. 

We reached the Pecos river at Horsehead crossing 
(where I had camped twelve years earlier with the 
Boundary Commission) at daybreak one morning. The 
river was swollen and the crossing dangerous. I first 
sent a man across on horseback, and then placing my 
wife and child in the ambulance I mounted the box 
and drove through the torrent, leading the way for the 
four adult male tenderfeet. Their cries to us when we 
had reached the western bank, "We can make it," ''We 
can make it," were intended to cheer us, but really it 
was not a matter of the greatest importance to us wheth- 
er they "made it" or not ; and, could we have foreseen 
the future we might have felt still more indifferent. It 
is but fair to state that, later on Mr. Ha^ne forsook my 
enemies and became my friend and remained so till his 

death. 

And now, arrived at my home, came the most trying 
days of my life. Up to this time the malignity of my 
enemies could afifect only myself, but now my wife and 
child must sufifer also. There were never more than a 
dozen of these enemies. They were composd of men 
of both political parties, each of whom aspired to be 
the political leader of El Paso. They were in full ac- 
cord only in one aim — the poHtical and personal ruin 
of W. W. Mills. The RepubUcans reasoned thus : "We 



112 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

cannot lead the Republican party until we down Mills." 
The Democrats reasoned thus: "We cannot defeat the 
Republican party until we down Mills !" They called 
themselves the ''Anti-Mills Party." 

In June, 1871, there appeared in all the Republican 
(radical) newspapers of Texas to which these parties 
could gain access a most slanderous and libelous publi- 
cation against myself, purporting to be the resolutions of 
a Republican convention of El Paso County, declaring 
me to be of infamous character and "capable of all the 
crimes in the calendar." 

This document was signed by three Americans as 
"President" and "Secretary" of the convention, and 
purported to be signed by fifteen of the most prominent 
Mexicans of the county, all of whom were my friends 
and none of whom had ever attended any such "con- 
vention." 

I received written statements from all of these Mex- 
ican gentlemen declaring their friendship for me and 
denouncing the forgery of their names. This crime 
was severely punishable by the laws of Texas, and the 
punishment was double wherever the name of another 
person was used to give respectabiHty to the libel, and 
I could have caused these men to have been arrested 
and carried to Austin and punished there, but now that 
so many years have elapsed and these vicious and guilty 
men have gone to their last account I do not regret 
that they escaped, and I omit their names. 

Simultaneously with the publication of the libel men- 
tioned above there appeared in all the accessible Dem- 
ocratic papers in the State a letter signed "Victor" (B. 
F. Williams), containing the same slanders but some- 
what changed in form, showing concert of action. 

Then Governor Hamilton wrote me a letter caution- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 113 

ing me against any resort to violence and bidding me 
bide my time. 

Then our little boy sickened and died, and Mrs. Mills' 
health began to fail, and as my enemies, nearly all of 
whom had received substantial favors from me, showed 
no sign of relenting, we went again to Austin, this time 
in the mail coach, carrying the remains of our first 
born in the *'boot," to be buried at the Capital of 
Texas, where we hope also to rest when life's fitful fever 
is past. 

But neither then nor at any time did we intend tO' 
abandon our El Paso home. 

Two years later the beautiful little Mary, our second 
and last child, died at Austin, and we laid her beside 
her brother. Then, indeed, our skies were gray. 




A. J. FOUNTAIN— MY WORST ENEMY. 

In 1869 there arose a bitter controversy between my- 
self and A. J. Fountain, who had for several years been 
my special deputy in the customs house at El Paso, 
which controversy attracted great interest on this fron- 
tier, and even in Austin and Washington City. There 
was much angry correspondence and an official inves- 
tigation, but as I came out of the contest unscathed 
I w^ill content myself with publishing only one of Foun- 
tain's letters and "let it go at that." 

El Paso, Texas, May 13, 1869. 
W. W. Mills, Esq. : 

My dear Sir — The conversation I had with you last evening 
left upon my mind the impression that you entertained a belief 
that I would oppose you and your friends, politically, should 
your choice for the Legislature in the coming contest fall upon 
some other person than myself, and that I would endeavor to 
secure to my support cliques and factions of our party, in this 
county, that are antagonistic to you, and that to do so, I would 
be compelled to give pledges which, if carried out, would result 
to your prejudice. If I am correct in my impression (and I 
hope I am not), I regret very much that our years of intimate 
acquaintance has made you know me only to doubt me. 

I, therefore, desire to enter upon a full explanation of my 
feelings towards you, not for the purpose of trying to secure 
your support or influence in my behalf, but to disabuse your 
mind of any impression that you may have that under any cir- 
cumstances, whatever, I would place myself in opposition to you. 
It is unnecessary for me to recapitulate the circumstances under 
which we first became associated as friends. I received from 
you a lucrative appointment, which I held some two years. It is 
not on account of pecuniary obligations that I feel myself in 
honor bound to stand your supporter to the last extremity. The 
year previous to my coming to El Paso to live I had been 

114 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 115 

engaged in an enterprise which promised, if successful, a fortune. 
I had partners who advanced a small portion of the original 
capital invested, and who, when I was confined to my bed suffer- 
ing for months from wounds received while risking my life to 
advance their interest as well as my own, not only robbed me of 
all I had, but slandered me to my friends to excuse their conduct. 
Weak and poor as I was, I made them such a fight that they were 
compelled to use the most despicable means to defeat me, and 
I endeavored to find employment to support my children; they, 
having the aid of men of influence who still were my friends and 
desired to assist me, poisoned them against me by villainous lies 
and slanderous misrepresentations of my conduct. They ac- 
knowledged that they endeavored to poison your mind against 
me when I had a prospect of again rising, and that if you had 
not stood my friend they would have succeeded in their threats 
of driving me from the country. It was then through your 
interposition that these parties failed, and that I have had the 
satisfaction of receiving humble apologies from some of them 
for the wrong they did me. I was taught in my youth never 
to allow an insult to pass unresented, never to forgive an 
enemy who deliberately injured me, never to be ungrateful to 
one who befriended me. I believe that you were my friend 
when I most needed one, you shall never have cause to regret 
that act, and I would consider myself as great a villain as the 
world contains, if under any circumstances whatever, I ar- 
raigned myself among the number of your enemies, personal or 
political; or if I should passively witness any attack upon 
your private or political character, and not strike a blow in 
your defense. Whatever bad qualities I may possess (and I 
know I have many faults) I am no ingrate. I consider myself 
bound to support you whenever you require that support, and 
will give you all the assistance in my power to enable you to 
accomplish any object you have in view, and if you are not 
entirely satisfied that all I do in this connection is to show my 
gratitude, I am indeed unfortunate and can only wait pa- 
tiently for time to prove my sincerity. 

Very respectfully, 

A. J. FOUNTAIN. 

The recent mysterious murder or disappearance of 
Fountain in New Mexico renders further comment from 



116 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 



me improper, except to state that very soon after writ- 
ing the above letter he became my bitter assailant and 
traducer, and at the time he wrote the letter he was 
secretly conspiring with my most unscrupulous and 
most relentless enemies. His malignity appeared to 
increase with the failure of every effort to do me harm. 



ARREST AT SAN ELEZARIO— ASSAULT BY 

ATKINSON. 

In 1 871, when the Davis administration was in full 
power and the notorious State police of that day were 
"rough riding" over the State, one John Atkinson (of 
whom more anon) commanded that force in El Paso 
County. 

I went, with my wife and brother, A. E. Mills, in my 
ambulance to attend court at San Elezario, which was 
then the county seat. There was a State law against 
carrying arms, "except when traveling," and we went 
armed. Immediately upon arriving at the county seat 
my brother and myself were arrested by Atkinson and 
his police and taken from the ambulance, leaving Mrs. 
Mills alone, and carried toward the jail. At that time 
the Mexican people thoroughly hated Atkinson and his 
party, but were devoted to me and my friends. There 
was some halting and parleying before we reached the 
jail door, and we saw groups of Mexicans consulting 
here and there and occasionally one with arms. I 
remember my brother whispering to me : "These peo- 
ple will take us out of jail before morning, but we will 
probably be dead." 

A Mexican, Maximo Arranda, who was justice of 
the peace, summoned Atkinson to bring his prisoners be- 
fore him, and immediately ordered our release upon 
the ground that we were travelers and had a right to 
carry arms. 

That night I went alone and unarmed to the house 
of a respectable citizen, where I had been invited to a 

117 



118 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

party. I took a seat at one side of the room. The Dis- 
trict Judge, District Attorney, Sheriff and Clerk of the 
Court, all enemies of mine, were dancing. When all 
were seated and the music ceased Atkinson stood before 
me, one hand on his six-shooter and the other in my 
face, and called me many pet names, the mildest of 
which were "coward" and "liar," and threatened to shoot 
me if I spoke or moved. 

I remained silent, and my assailant was called away. 
Presently Johnnie Hale sat down beside me and whis- 
pered that he had two pistols and would give me one 
if I would not use it unless attacked and would go 
away with him. I accepted, and we left the house. 

Court was in session, and the next day the grand 
jury presented an indictment against Atkinson for ag- 
gravated assault. The District Attorney declined to 
prosecute, and James A. Zabriskie volunteered to take 
his place. Will the reader believe that that "carpet- 
bag" Judge (from Canada), appointed by Governor 
Davis to administer justice over a people he had never 
seen or heard of, forbade Zabriskie to prosecute for ag- 
gravated assault, and declared from the bench that he 
knew it was merely a simple assault because he wit- 
nessed it himself! I take pleasure in recording the fact 
that this Judge was removed from ofifice by the Legis- 
lature of Texas. Atkinson's violent death is recorded 
in my account of the San Elezario mob, and that of 
Johnnie Hale in the account of the killing of Kram- 
krauer, Campbell, Hale and a Mexican at El Paso in 
1881. 



FROM EL PASO TO AUSTIN— STAGE 
DRIVERS. 

In February, 1872, we went in the stage coach from 
El Paso to Austin. The party consisted of Mrs. Mills, 
myself, Charles H. Howard and a young St. Louis law- 
yer named Bowman, who was taking his first lessons in 
frontier life and customs. 

If I desired to learn any man's true character I would 
want to take a long day and night journey with him 
in a stage coach. Want of sleep and other annoy- 
ances, vexations and privations bring out at times all 
the ill-nature and selfishness one may possess; and, 
again, when everything goes smoothly and all are 
moving leisurely and silently over some long stretch of 
prairie or plain and the weather is pleasant, men ap- 
pear to cast all cares and reserve to the wind and con- 
verse with each other more frankly and confidentially 
than elsewhere. At least, that has been my experience 
and observation. 

Here and during other like experiences Mrs. Mills 
made the acquaintance of the stage driver, a character 
difficult to describe and now almost extinct. 

He possessed the courage of the soldier and some- 
thing more. The private soldier goes where he is told 
to march, and fights when he is ordered, but he has 
little anxiety or responsibility; but the stage driver in 
those times had to be as alert and thoughtful as a Gen- 
eral. There was not only his duty to his employers but 
his responsibility for the mails (he was a sworn officer 
of the Government), but the lives of the passengers often 

119 



120 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

depended upon his knowledge of the country and of 
the Indian character, and his quick and correct judg- 
ment as to what to do in emergencies. Like the sailor, 
he was something of a fatalist, but he believed in 
using all possible means to protect himself and those 
under his charge. 

Your stage driver was usually of a serious, almost 
sad disposition ; inclined to be reticent, particularly 
about himself and his former life, and his surname was 
seldom mentioned by himself or his associates. He 
was known as ''Bill" or "Dave" or ''Bobo" or ''Buck- 
skin," or some such sobriquet. When, however, he 
could be induced to talk about himself as a stage driver 
his stories were always interesting and sometimes thrill- 
ing. There was occasionally a liar among them, but 
most of them had really experienced such serious ad- 
ventures and "hair-breadth scapes" that it was not nec- 
essary for them to draw upon their imaginations. 

Rough, profane and unclean of speech among their 
own sex, they were remarkably courteous to lady pas- 
sengers and ever thoughtful of their comfort and feel- 
ings, and more than once, on arriving at a station where 
the drivers were to be changed, I have heard one whis- 
per to another : "Remember, Sandy, there is a little 
lady in the coach." This was sufficient. 

During the most interesting portion of this trip we 
had two drivers, "Uncle Billy," who was going to San 
Antonio on leave, and "Bobo," the regular driver. They 
vied with each other in trying to make everything 
pleasant for Mrs. Mills. They would prepare the high 
driver's seat with cushions and blankets and assist her 
to mount it, and for hours would call her attention tO' 
points of interest or entertain her with stories of their 
experiences, humorous or tragic. 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 121 

One morning just after daybreak Bobo halted the 
coach and said: ''Gentlemen, get your guns ready; the 
prints of moccasined feet here are as thick as turkey 
tracks." 

And so it was, and the tracks were fresh. A large 
party of Indians had very recently crossed the road, 
but we saw nor heard more about them. 

At "Head of Concho" we came upon a herd of buf- 
falo, and, of course, we dismounted and wantonly fired 
into them, with what effect I do not know, except that 
some one wounded an immense bull so seriously that 
he became angry or sullen and refused to run away 
as the others did. We, with our deadly Winchesters, 
ceased firing at him, as he was of no use to us, but not 
so with the young St. Louis lawyer. He wanted to do 
something that he could tell about at home, and so he 
advanced upon the irate animal v/ith his little thirty-two 
calibre pistol, firing as he went. He was encouraged 
and animated by the shouts of Bobo and Uncle Billy: 
^'Charge him, mister," "You've got him," "The next 
shot will fetch him," etc. 

Mrs. Mills said : "Why, Uncle Billy, that animal will 
kill the man! Call him back!" Uncle Billy 'said: 
"Why, of course, he'll kill him. Now you just watch, 
and you'll see fine fun. He'll toss that little lawyer 
higher'n the top of this coach." And yet Uncle Billy 
and Bobo were not cruel men. 



SOME TEXAS LAWYERS. 

In 1 87 1 I held a judgment for $50,000 which I had 
obtained in the El Paso District Court against a citizen 
of El Paso County for having caused my arrest and 
imprisonment by the Confederates in 1861, as related 
in my war story. This judgment being in full force and 
I being in Austin, my friend, Major De Normandie, 
then Clerk of the Supreme Court, introduced me to a 
prominent attorney of De Witt County, Texas, who in- 
formed me that the defendant owned property in De 
Witt County out of which my judgment, or a large por- 
tion of it, could be satisfied. I implored this attorney 
to act for me in De Witt County, and on my return 
home I sent him, at his request, a certified copy of the 
judgment and received a letter from him dated June 
7th, 1 871, informing me that they had written out a 
levy which they would proceed with in a day or two, 
and requesting me to send them some money for costs, 
which I did. After long delay I wrote this attorney, 
asking to be informed of the result, and he replied that 
the whole proceeding was a failure because he had 
dated the levy on a Sunday, which mistake vitiated the 
whole proceeding and that my rights were lost. 

He stated that ''strange as it might seem" he had 
been led to make the mistake by an error in an almanac 
in his office. As this attorney did not suggest any 
remedy for his own blunder or institute any further 
proceeding I concluded then, and believe now, that po- 
Htical prejudice or some other unworthy motive had in- 
fluenced him to act in bad faith with his client. The 

122 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 123 

attorney and the defendant were both Confederates 
and Democrats, while I was a Union man and a Repub- 
lican, and much bitter feehng had grown out of the 
suit and the acts preceding and attending it. 

I met this lawyer in Austin a year or so later, and 
he made no further explanation except to affirm that it 
"made no difference, because the Supreme Court had 
decided that my judgment was void." As a matter of 
fact, and of record, the Supreme Court had decided that 
the judgment was valid. And here I will state a fact 
which I hope the reader will remember when he comes 
to read the case following this one — this gentleman was 
later on elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Texas. 

My judgment for $50,000 (mentioned in the preced- 
ing paragraphs) was in 1868, before the Supreme Court 
at Austin on writ of error or appeal, or both, taken or 
claimed to have been taken from the District Court of 
El Paso County by the defendant. A supersedeas bond 
for one hundred thousand dollars damages, signed by 
John Hancock and Thomas J. Divine, was filed with 
the Clerk of the Supreme Court by the appellant's at- 
torney, whom I will not name here. 

When this appeal came on for trial my attorney dis- 
covered to his amazement that the words "thousand" 
and "damages" had been erased on the face of the 
bond and the words "costs" inserted instead of the word 
damages. 

It is proper to explain to the non-professional reader 
that this fraud and forgery changed the nature of the 
bond, so that if I gained the case — and I did gain it — 
I could recover from the sureties, who were both 
wealthy men, only one hundred dollars "costs," instead 
of the full amount of the judgment, namely, fifty thou- 
sand dollars ''damages.'' The Judges were, of course, 



124 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

astounded, and called the Clerk, Major de Normandie, 
who being sworn testified that the record had been bor- 
rowed by appellant's attorney when it was in its orig- 
inal condition, and that when it was returned the eras- 
ures and forgery were in the handwriting of said at- 
torney. The guilty attorney was present, but stood 
mute, offering no explanation or excuse for his acts. 
The Court, at some length and with strong indignation, 
rendered its decision dismissing the appeal and leaving 
my judgment in full force, but the wrong to me had 
been done, so far as the bond was concerned. 

My loss was about forty thousand dollars. 

If any one questions any of the above statements he 
will find abundant proof in the Reports of the Supreme 
Court of Texas : 

Hart vs. Mills, 31st Texas, page 304, and Hart vs. 
Mills, 38th Texas, pages 513 and 517. 

This thing was not done in a corner. Every attor- 
ney of that Court knew the facts exactly as I have stated 
them, and it was a duty they owed to themselves and 
to the profession to have disbarred the attorney, but he 
stood fairly well socially and had been a "good" Confed- 
erate and Democrat and I was only a frontiersman and 
Republican, and so they elected him a Judge of the 
Supreme Court of Texas, as had been done with the 
lawyer in the case mentioned above. I believe there is 
a legal maxim, or a legal axiom, or a legal fiction, that 
there can be no wrong without a remedy, and I am 
asked why I did not pursue the remedy. Oh, I don't 
know. I suppose every man of affairs has sometimes in 
his life done or neglected things which he could scarce- 
ly explain afterward, even to himself. I was seven 
hundred miles away, and my attorney was well paid in 
advance for looking out for my interests, and unless he 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. l25 

choose to act I don't think I could have broken the 
combination. There are times when even the most 
energetic men become discouraged and weary of strife, 
and for a time at least feel like letting things drift as they 
may. 

In 1873 I ^^^d ^ suit pending in court at El Paso in- 
volving the title to valuable real estate, and I paid an 
El Paso attorney $800 to attend to it. 

In my absence and without my consent this lawyer 
compromised me out of court for a worthless consid- 
eration, and I lost the property. Of course, I might 
have repudiated this compromise, but I was handi- 
capped by the fact that the property in question was 
held in trust for me by my brother, E. A. Mills, and the 
lawyer had induced him, by claiming to have authority 
from me, to re-convey the property; and the legal ma- 
chinery here at that time was such that I thought it 
hopeless to litigate further. 



A 



LITIGATION ABOUT EL PASO PROPERTY. 

When the Confederate forces left El Paso and the 
United States troops took possession, in 1863, such of 
the county records as had been preserved from destruc- 
tion were by common consent delivered to me for safe 
keeping, to be turned over to the proper county officers 
as soon as such officers should be appointed or elected. 
This, and my long residence here, gave me the oppor- 
tunity of becoming the best informed m^an in El Paso 
as to titles, boundaries, possession, etc., so that when 
the railroads and the boom came and city lots became 
valuable and there was a general shaking up and de- 
ciding of titles by many suits in the courts, I was al- 
most a standing witness. I verily believe that more of 
these cases were decided upon my testimony than on 
that of any other half dozen witnesses, and all this tes- 
timony was given without receiving or expecting a 
dollar's compensation. The juries believed me, and so 
far as I know not even the most zealous lawyer ever 
questioned my testimony, though there were some 
''keen encounters of wits." 

In one instance I saved to a certain litigant property 
on El Paso street now worth fifty thousand dollars 
simply by producing an ancient deed which I had had 
in my possession for twenty-five years and had forgot- 
ten. The book, "Record of Deeds," had been de- 
stroyed, but the acknowledgment of the vendor was on 
the deed itself, and the suit was withdrawn. 

I believe that in the main these cases were decided ac- 
cording to law, which was the best that could be done; 

126 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 127 

but if, as we are told, there are certain eternal princi- 
ples of right and justice, higher than those men make 
for their own convenience, then surely these principles 
were sometimes violated, for deserving men lost prop- 
erty which by such principles should have been their's 
by such trivial neglect as failing to record a deed or 
to pay taxes or to preserve evidence of occupancy, or 
some other fact, or worse still, by false testimony. 

CONFISCATION — AN EXPLANATION — NOT AN APOLOGY. 

All Governments, including the Southern Confed- 
eracy, have written in their statute books that whoever 
engages in rebellion or takes up arms against their au- 
thority shall forfeit not only his property but his life. 

I am glad now that my Government did not enforce 
these harsh penalties against any of the Confederates. 

In 1864 the United States District Judge for New 
Mexico, himself a Southern man, held that his Court 
had the power to libel and confiscate the real estate 
of such citizens of El Paso County, Texas, as were 
then in arms against the United States. He based this 
claim upon an Act of Congress approved March 3d, 
1863, which provided that 'The jurisdiction of the 
United States Court for New Mexico is hereby extend- 
ed over the citizens of El Paso County only in cases 
not instituted by indictment." 

I, being Collector of Customs, had caused this act 
to be passed to enable me to condemn and sell goods 
smuggled into El Paso County (there being then no 
United States Courts in Texas). I am frank to say 
that I did not then even dream of the confiscation of 
any one's real estate. 

The United States Attorney and Marshal for New 
Mexico came to El Paso and libeled the property of cer- 



128 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

tain leading Confederates and proceeded against it in the 
United States Court at Mesilla, New Mexico, and cer- 
tain of these lands and lots were declared forfeited and 
were sold at El Paso by the United States Marshal, 
and I purchased a portion of this property, as did others. 
I paid the Marshal eighteen hundred dollars good and 
lawful money therefor, and received and recorded his 
deeds. 

I protected the property of some of my Confederate 
neighbors, Dowell's and Stephenson's and others. 

Along with what I purchased was a six-eighths' in- 
terest in the El Paso town tract belonging to the Gillett 
brothers, who were then absent with the Confederate 
army; but some years later, when they returned to El 
Paso and we patched up a peace, I proposed to them 
that if they would join their title with mine I would 
pay their debts, amounting to a few thousand dollars, 
which debts were a lien on the property, and we would 
hold it share and share alike. 

This they declined to do, and in the end they lost 
it all. So did I, for years later the Supreme Court of 
the United States decided, not that the property was 
not subject to forfeiture, as all such property certainly 
was, but simply that the Act of Congress referred to 
did not confer the jurisdiction claimed by the Court 
at Mesilla. 

Without a murmur I reconveyed all the property to 
the original owners and lost the eighteen hundred I 
had paid the Marshal. 

Then the Gillett's creditors sold them out. I had 
held possession of the town tract and paid taxes on it 
for five years. 

It has been said that I purchased the property of 
Simon Hart at the confiscation sale. That is not true. 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 129 

I purchased that property at Sheriff's sale on a judg- 
ment for false imprisonment, which I obtained against 
Hart in a Texas court, which judgment was twice af- 
firmed by the Supreme Court of Texas. 

In 1871 I was the owner of a portion of Franklin 
Heights, of the city of El Paso, then known as Hart 
Survey, No. 9. 

Being in Washington City I met my friend. Gen. 
Robert B. Mitchell, and gave him a power of attorney 
to sell the property. He sold to different purchasers, 
to the amount of $14,000, and we divided the proceeds 
share and share alike. 

The property was then considered valueless by those 
who knew less than we did, but it is now worth forty- 
fold what we received for it. Among the purchasers 
were George W. Gray of Washington City and one 
Peck of Kansas, and others. 

The recording of the deeds in El Paso County 
aroused the jealousy and hatred of my El Paso enemies, 
and, heedless of what harm they might do' to others 
so long as there was a prospect of injuring me, they 
wrote the purchasers that I had no title to Survey No. 9. 
that the property was worthless, and that I was a 
swindler. 

It is strange that the purchasers took these statements 
at par, and instead of investigating or communicating 
with me they sued me in Washington City for the pur- 
chase money, charging fraud, and got service on me 
there. I demurred them out of court, and came home, 
and being angry with the purchasers I paid no further 
attention to them or their troubles. 

None of them, ever asserted their rights to the prop- 
erty, WHICH THEY COULD HAVE DONE SUCCESSFULLY IF 

IN TIME. 
9 



130 FORTY YEAkS AT EL PASO. 

These strange facts being of record in El Paso Coun- 
ty have caused a lot of talk, and many a lawyer has be- 
Heved he had made an important discovery and has 
had visions of profitable litigation. I have been inter- 
viewed about this transaction one hundred times, more 
or less. 




"STAR'' MAIL CONTRACTS — THE FIRST 
TRUST— 1869-70. 

After the war I and my El Paso friends became in- 
volved in a bitter contest with the San Antonio and El 
Paso Mail Company, which continued for several years. 

At that time the great lines of railroads were reach- 
ing out toward the west and southwest, and many mail 
routes, hundreds of miles in length, were preceding 
them. These mails were carried in stage coaches, buck- 
boards and on horseback. Millions were expended an- 
nually by the Government for this service, and it was 
harvest time for the two wealthy companies who mo- 
nopolized the larger routes, the above named com- 
pany in Texas and another company in the northwest. 

This Texas company failed year after year to deliver 
the mails at El Paso according to their contract, and 
our people were practically without mail facilities, which 
was a great privation, and the people complained to the 
Post Office Department but without avail, because the 
wealthy company had powerful influence with some of 
its high officials and a strong lobby in Washington City. 
Then the El Paso merchants and people held an indig- 
nation meeting, denounced the company and appointed 
Col. Jas. A. Zabriskie and myself to represent them at 
Washington, and after taking much testimony all along 
the line we went on our mission at our own expense. 

After a careful investigation in Washington City, 
during which we found more rottenness than we had 
dreamed of, and in higher places than we had suspected, 
we secured a hearing before the joint committee of 

131 



132 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

Congress on Retrenchment, composed of seven Sen- 
ators and fourteen Representatives and the contest 
began. 

Zabriskie and Mills for the complainants, ''the pros- 
ecution," and the distinguished Judge Pascal of Texas, 
and the still more distinguished Jere Black of Mary- 
land for the Mail Company, "the defense." It v^as a 
*'go as you please" contest. Three days were consumed 
in reading testimony, in quarreling and in arguments 
before that distinguished court or jury, and I flatter 
myself that we youths from the frontier held our own 
with these veterans of the Washington bar. (At least 
I am as proud of what I did there as the average young 
El Paso lawyer is when he wins a cow case against a 
railroad or makes a free silver speech.) I had recently 
been ''suspended" as Collector at El Paso, and I charged 
that the Alail Company had employed Pearson & Wil- 
liams at El Paso as scavengers to hunt for charges 
against me. 

F. P. Sawyer, the principal man of the Mail Com- 
pany, was present and took the stand and denied this 
charge, and stated that "out of consideration for others" 
he had tried to have me retained in oiifice. On cross 
examination I led him to repeat these statements most 
solemnly, and then handed to Senator Patterson, the 
Chairman, the original of the following letter, which 
he read aloud to the committee : 

"Washington, June 2d, 1869. 
"W. M. Pearson, Esq., El Paso, Texas. 

"Dear Sir: Yours of the loth instant was this A. M. 
received and already placiet in Secretary Boutwell's 
hands to strengthen those already on file in his office 
which has as I suppose you have hird removed the 
greatest man in the U. S. as per his own opinion. I 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 133 

think this last affidavit of Mr. Wardwell's is a chncher. 
You have done your duty manfilly & have no doubt 
havedone that People of that western county a grat 
and lasting good. I have written you several letters 
to El Paso suppose you have them all. Yours very 
truly, (Signed) F. P. Sawyer." 

The scene was somewhat dramatic. There was no 
attempt to deny the authenticity of the letter. I was 
not in a merciful mood. Never mind what I said. That 
mj'llionaire perjurer left that committee room weeping 
like a child. 

Colonel Zabriskie's speech before those potent, grave 
and reverend Sefiors was as fine a piece of oratory as 
one would wish to listen to. Our victory was complete. 
The unanimous report of the joint committee, dated 
April, 1870, is before me, but it is too long for publica- 
tion here and I will condense it conscientiously. They 
say: "The committee find that in July, 1867, a con- 
tract was awarded to E. Bates for carrying a weekly 
mail between San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, seven 
hundred miles, for thirty-three thousand dollars a year ; 
and they find that without warrant of law and without 
giving other bidders any opportunity to compete, this 
compensation was in eighteen months increased from 
$33,000 to $333,617! This was done by adding new 
routes, some of them longer than the original one and 
running at right angles to it and increasing the number 
of trips and 'expediting' the 'speed.' They say : 
'Charges were made that the service was not perfectly 
performed and that the contractor had wholly failed to 
perform his contract, and there is no doubt in the minds 
of the committee that these charges were substantially 
true up to the latter part of 1868. It is also charged 
that that the Mail Company had sufficient influence 



134 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

with some of the postmasters to procure from them 
false certificates of the arrivals of the mails. The com- 
mittee find that , postmaster at El Paso, 

Texas, certified that out of thirty-seven mails due at 
El Paso for a certain period, only ten ever arrived, and 
subsequently sent to the Department a certificate stat- 
ing that ail of the thirty-seven mails had arrived on time. 
For this and other reasons the committee recommend 
his dismissal. All the evidence concurs that the mails 
in Texas are so unsafe that no one dare trust money 
to them." The report says : "In making these increases 
of service and compensation the Postoffice Department 
seems tO' have given great weight to the representations 
of Judge Paschel, State Agent of Texas, probably not 
knowing that he was also the attorney of the Mail 
Company and himself interested in the contract." The 
report says : 'Tt is evident that much feeling exists and 
powerful influences are interested both for and against 
the Mail Company." I know of no ''powerful influence" 
against the Mail Company unless the committee refer 
to Zabriskie and myself, for we were alone in that 
contest. 

Well, the result was a curtailment of the Mail Com- 
pany's compensation by several hundred thousand dol- 
lars during the years for which they claimed the con- 
tracts, and a saving to the Government of an equal sum, 
and finally a return to something like fair and honest 
dealing in letting of such contracts. 

While we were making our fight on the Mail Com- 
pany of the Southwest, as above related. Col. Joe 
McCibbin was attacking a company who had by the same 
means monopolized the main routes in the Northwest, 
and he was trying to expose their frauds. Though act- 
ing independently, we sympathized and sometimes con- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 135 

suited with each other, and became fast friends. 
McCibbin was a man of fine ability, had been a member 
of Congress from California and in 1856 had been the 
second to Senator David C. Broderick of that State 
in the duel with Judge David S. Terry, in which the 
brilliant Senator was killed. McCibbin bore a striking 
resemblance to and in his manner was much like my 
friend, the elder Dr. Samaniego of Juarez. His fight 
was not concluded when we left Washington, and on my 
return a year or two later I asked him how it had 
terminated. He replied : "Oh, I am on the inside. I 
am the attorney for the Mail Company and am well 
paid for my services. You and Zabriskie had better get 
in. You can easily do so, and it don't pay to fight other 
people's battles. You get neither money nor thanks." 

McCibbin then told me that the Mail Company had 
paid him $20,000 in cash to stop the fight, and were then 
paying him $10,000 per year as their Washington at- 
torney. I would not state what McCibbin told me had 
he not later on made the same statement under oath to 
a committee of Congress and boldly defended his con- 
duct. Did he do wrong? I don't know. His was a 
free lance. I sometimes envy the happy ignorance of 
those who tell me that they always know exactly what 
is right and wrong. 

Yes, Zabriskie and I could have "got in," but we did 
not. 



VICTORIO, THE GREAT APACHE GENERAL. 

I could fill a book larger than the one I am writing 
with true stories of Indian raids and fights and mas- 
sacres and captivities on this frontier, but I refrain. 

In my war story I gave an account of one of the most 
desperate fights, where one who was kin of mine died, 
fighting bravely but hopelessly, and I will briefly men- 
tion here that final "round up" of the hostile savages of 
this section, the capture of Victorio and his band by the 
combined troops of our country and Mexico, within 
forty miles of El Paso, just twenty years ago. I give 
here an extract from a letter I wrote from El Paso to 
Mrs. Mills at Austin, dated September 24th, 1880, as 
follows : "If I had of late jumbled my accounts of In- 
dians and war and politics and killings and adventures 
and anecdotes all into one letter I might have written 
one that would have interested all the good people at 
Fair Oaks, 'Chicos y Grandes.' I wrote you from Fort 
Davis that the Indians were gone. They were gone to 
the Candelerio Mountains, forty miles south of Quit- 
man, and they are there yet. Since then they have 
stolen two herds of cattle from Dr. Samaniego, fifty 
miles from El Paso, killing the herders. Yesterday a 
small band crossed the river at the Canutilla, sixteen 
miles above here. Three days ago our troops and 
friendly Indians crossed here into the land of God and 
Liberty to concentrate with other forces who crossed 
below and above, to make a combined attack on Victorio 
today. But the wiley chief may not be there. Con- 
sidering the number of his braves, he is the greatest 

136 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 137 

commander, white or red, who ever roamed these 
plains. For more than a year he has out-manoeuvered 
our officers with six times his number and all the ap- 
purtenances of war, and when he has not out-generaled 
them he has whipped them. In sober truth, he is the 
veriest devil ^'that ere clutched fingers in a captive's 
hair.' " 

(I regret that neither at the War Department at 
Washington nor elsewhere have I been able to obtain 
an official account of the defeat of Victorious band. The 
fight took place at Tres Castillas, southeast of El Paso. 
Only the Mexican soldiers happened to be in at the 
death, although our troops rendered valuable assist- 
ance on both sides of the boundary line in getting Vic- 
torio into a position where he was forced to fight either 
our troops or the Mexicans. Victorio and a hundred 
warriors were killed on the field and as many Indians 
were made prisoners. Col. Juaquin Terrazas of Chi- 
huahua, a brave and skillful Indian fighter, commanded 
the Mexican troops.) 




THE KILLING OF CLARKE AND. WILLIAMS— 
THE CAUSES— 1870. 

On a fine autumn day, thirty years ago, on El Paso 
street, where the Mundy Block now stands, Gaylord 
J. Clarke and B. F. Williams were shot to death within 
a few moments of each other and within a few feet of 
each other. 

In order that the reader may understand the causes 
which led up to these tragedies I will give a brief 
sketch of the career of each of the four men most di- 
rectly connected with the quarrel or quarrels and their 
relation to each other and to the writer. Clarke was 
a New York man who had been my college chum, and 
the most intimate friend of my early manhood. At the 
age of twenty-four he was elected to a State office in 
New York. Later he had gone to Nebraska in the 
hope of some day representing that State in the United 
States Senate. In 1867 he wrote me that he had failed 
in everything and was destitute. I sent him the means 
to come to El Paso, gave him an appointment in the 
Customs House, and later I sent for his wife and child. 
Clarke was a scholar, a lawyer and at the time of his 
death was Judge of the El Paso District. He was a 
Republican. 

B. F. Williams came to El Paso about the time that 
Clarke came. He was also a lawyer, had served in 
the Confederate army and was a Democrat. 

Albert H. French was a Boston man, who had gone 
to California in his youth and had come to El Paso in 
1863 as a Captain of California Volunteers, had married 
there and was a peace officer of the county. 

138 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 139 

A. J. Fountain has been mentioned elsewhere in 
these pages. 

The quarrels grew out of an election held about a 
year previous, in which Clarke and French supported 
Hamilton for Governor and myself for the Legislature ; 
Fountain and Williams leading the opposition. The 
county seat was at San Elizario, and the whole county 
voted there, the election lasting four days, and was held 
under military supervision. I here show what occurred. 
Judge French wrote me : 

"After the battle, December 4th, 1869. 

''Dear Mills : We won the election, but the first night, 
we having one hundred and forty-three to their forty- 
eight votes, they opened the box and scratched our 
one hundred and forty-three votes for themselves. 
Fountain's name represents yours on the scratched tick- 
ets. I have sworn two hundred and seventy-seven men 
who voted for you. You got only one hundred and 
thirty-four as counted. Yours, French." 

(French was at the time County Judge.) 

Clarke wrote me from El Paso, I being at Austin 
assisting in the management of Hamilton's campaign : 

''Whole number of Hamilton tickets polled, two hun- 
dred and seventy-three ; number as declared by regis- 
trars, one hundred and twenty-two. A majority of our 
tickets were scratched clear through and changed to 
Davis candidates. As ever yours, 

Gaylord J. Clarke." 

Lieutenant Verney, who presided over this election, 
was for other offences dismissed from the army a few 
years later. Our Legislative District, which had three 
Representatives, was comprised of a dozen counties and 
extended from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico. Col. 
Nelson Plato of Brownsville and myself were running 



140 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

as Independent Republicans on the Hamilton ticket, 
and were fairly elected by the people, but the fraud in 
El Paso County and other places defeated us and gave 
the seats to those called "Regular Republicans." 

Davis was inaugurated Governor and Fountain was 
all powerful at the State Capital. 

But now trouble began for the victors. Williams be- 
lieved that by supporting Davis and Fountain and aid- 
ing to defeat and otherwise injure me he had earned 
the Judgeship of the El Paso District, which was at the 
disposal of Fountain. But Fountain, always inexplica- 
ble, had other plans. He conceived an idea that it 
would be a good move to placate at least one gentle- 
man and at the same time win away from me my friend, 
and so, to the surprise of everybody, he tendered the 
Judgeship to Clarke, and it was accepted. 

It has been falsely stated that Clarke forsook me for 
office, but I quote here a brief note from him, written 
to me after he became Judge: 

''Dear William : There are some things I would give 
much to talk to you about, but dare not write. They 
concern me closely and you, so far as regards your in- 
terests in this valley, but I defer them. When will you 
return home? Direct your letters for me under cover 
to D. C. B., Fort Davis. As ever yours, Gaylord." 

The directing of letters ''under cover" to mutual 
friends was to prevent their being stolen by the El Paso 
postmaster, who was of the Fountain faction. 

Williams, by no means a well-balanced man, became 
furious and desperate at what he claimed to be, and 
what probably was, bad faith. He was particularly bit- 
ter toward Fountain and Clarke. He drank deeply and 
threatened terribly, and in his ravings declared that 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 141 

he had helped to ''down" a better man than either of 
them. 

In this state of mind on the day mentioned WilHams 
went into Dowell's saloon and fired a pistol shot at close 
range at P'ountain's left breast. Fountain's life was 
saved by his watch and his legs. He ran to Judge 
Clarke's house and asked protection and demanded 
that Williams be immediately arrested. Clarke was a 
firm believer in ''the majesty of the law." He sum- 
m.oned a posse, consisting of E. A. Mills, John Evans, 
Johnnie Hale, John Gillett and J. A. Zabriskie, the Dis- 
trict Attorney, and went to Williams quarters where 
Williams, being inside, had locked and bolted all the 
doors. French was there as a policeman. He went to 
the rear of the house to prevent Williams from escap- 
ing that way. Admittance being refused, the posse 
commenced to batter down the door. Then Williams 
came out, bare-headed, and leveled his shotgun at Judge 
Clarke, who stood very near. Clarke did not move, 
but said two or three times : "Don't you dare, Williams ! 
Don't you dare!" W^illiams fired and Clarke staggered 
a few steps toward his home, then fell and died in a 
few moments without speaking. French, hearing the 
shot, came immediately upon the scene, and finding Wil- 
liams still armed and running ''amuck/' shot him twice 
with his pistol, and Williams died in about an hour. 



THE CARDIS-HOWARD FEUD— THE MOB AT 
SAN ELEZARIO, 1877. 

In 1877 but before the coming of the first railroad to 
El Paso and when the population had increased but 
little beyond what it was in the "sixties," there arose a 
bitter feud between two remarkable men, Lewis Cardis 
and Charles H. Howard, which resulted in the killing 
of both leaders and many other tragedies and agitated 
the people of the valley as nothing else ever did before 
or since. 

Out of this local trouble evil-minded persons sought 
to manufacture excitement in Texas and throughout 
the country about a ''war of races," "organized invasion 
from Mexico," and to involve the two countries in war. 
Cardis was an Italian who had served as an officer in 
Garibaldi's army in his youth, and had resided for sev- 
eral years at El Paso as a merchant and contractor, and 
knew the Spanish language and the Mexican character 
perfectly. He had been my lieutenant in political af- 
fairs during the sixties and early in the seventies 
he had, with my consent, succeeded me as the friend, 
adviser and leader of the Mexican people of the valley 
but was not so successful with the Americans. 

Howard had come later from Texas. He was a 
lawyer and had served in the Confederate army. He 
was a man of imposing appearance, powerful physique 
and wonderful determination and courage, or rather 
recklessness. A friend of mine recently told me that 
the first time he saw Howard, although he knew noth- 
ing about him, he feared him. Howard's chief charac- 

142 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 143 

tefistic was force; that of Cardis was persuasion and 
management — a natural diplomat. Howard was a Dem- 
ocrat, Cardis was a Republican. 

I was absent at the Capital of the State during the 
tragic month of which I am writing, but I knew both 
the parties well and was well informed of the nature of 
their quarrels. 1 had been intimate with Cardis for 
several years at El Paso. Howard had been my attor- 
ney, and I and my wife had once made the journey 
of eight days and nights from El Paso to Austin with 
him in the stage coach and he and I had returned to El 
Paso together in the same way. Besides, during several 
months preceding the tragedies each of them wrote me 
several letters complaining of the other, and each invok- 
ing my influence with the other. I still retain these let- 
ters, and I have before me as I write all the testimony 
taken by a United States Commission, consisting of 
Colonels King and Lewis of the regular army, which 
was appointed to investigate and report upon the 
emente. Howard had located some salt lakes about 
one hundred miles northeast of El Paso, from which 
(being on public land) the Mexicans had for many 
years taken salt free of cost. They were indignant at 
his action, and some of them threatened to take salt as 
before, but so far none of them had committed any 
lawless act. Howard, having influence with the county 
offlcials, caused the arrest and imprisonment of two 
prominent Mexicans at San Elezario for these threats. 
This was September loth, 1877. A party of forty or 
fifty armed Mexicans at San Elezario forcibly released 
their two countrymen, and in turn arrested Howard and 
the County Judge, and organizing a Court of their own 
tried them for wrongs (real or supposed) done to them 
and their American friends, and possibly might have 



144 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

dealt severely with them had it not been for the inter- 
cession of Louis Cardis and the Parish Priest. As it 
was they extorted from him a promise and bond that 
he would leave the county never to return. Of course, 
this was lawlessness, but no more so than defrauding 
people of an election fairly won, or many other things 
which are common. Howard then went to New Mexico 
and ''fired the Texas heart" with many telegrams about 
lawless work, war of races, invasion from Mexico, etc., 
etc. He charged that Cardis was the chief conspirator 
and marplot who had created all the trouble and had 
sought to have him (Howard) assassinated. 

Howard called on Governor Hubbard for protection. 
There was great excitement throughout the State. How- 
ard returned to El Paso and on the loth of October, 
1877, while Louis Cardis was writing a letter in the 
store of Joseph Schutz, Howard walked in with a shot- 
gun and immediately shot him dead. 

Now comes the most strange and pathetic part of 
this story. The people of San Elezario were threaten- 
ing to kill Howard if he returned to that village, and 
the letter which Cardis had just finished and placed in 
his breast pocket was written to the leaders of that 
people pleading with them to refrain from all violence 
toward Howard and all others. This letter was be- 
spattered with Cardis' blood! I print the letter below, 
together with some extracts from Cardis' diary for the 
few days preceding his death, and also an affidavit of 
Adolph Krakaner, an eye-witness of the assassination: 
"El Paso, Texas, October loth, 1877. 

"Friend Cipriano : The notice having been circulated 
by telegraph and in the newspapers that our county 
had risen against the Government and that the same had 
been invaded by armed people of the Republic of Mex- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 145 

ico, General Hatch, commander of troops on this fron- 
tier, sent Lieutenant Rucker to investigate whether or 
not it is true that the property of the United States and 
the lives of the citizens of the United States are in dan- 
ger on account of the afore-mentioned invasion, but 
the lieutenant nor his soldiers have neither the orders 
nor the wish to molest the citizens of this county, ex- 
cept to investigate the case and make his report to the 
General. 

"The false notices that are in circulation are not worth 
anything, if the people will continue to do as advised 
by their friends. Tranquillity and peace and the truth 
will manifest Itself in time. * * * Your friend, in 
haste, (Signed) Louis Cardis. 

"P. S. — Do not pay any attention to the slanders that 
you hear against me, and my life. Let the people re- 
main tranquil and we will get justice, and this is what 
we wish and need no more. L. C." 

A true copy. (Signed) John S. Lond, 

First Lieutenant and Adjutant Ninth Cavalry, Acting 

Assistant Adjutant General. 

(Extract from the diary of Louis Cardis, found on his 
body after his death at the hands of Howard. The diary 
is pierced through and through with buckshot.) 

''October ist, P. M. — Was told by Mr. Lujan that 
Juarez had been incarcerated by order of G. M. Garcia 
for having said he intended to go to the salt lakes, and 
that warrants for his (Lyjan's) arrest had been issued, 
and for the arrest of four others. 

''October 2. — J. R. Mariani Informed me that the 
people took up arms, arrested G. M. Garcia and How- 
ard, and asked me to go to San Elezarlo and use my 
influence to pacify the excited people, which I did. 
Found the people very much excited against Howard 

10 



146 FORTY YEARS AT EL~PASO. 

only. I begged for his life with all my might and left 
San Elezario at about 3 o'clock A. M. on 3d after being 
satisfied that the people had taken my advice to let 
Howard and all the rest free. Arrived at El Paso 9 
A. M. after twenty-six hours of no rest or sleep. On 
the 4th, at night, Howard arrived here at El Paso es- 
corted by eight of the people, and on the 5th A. M. 
Howard left (I am told) for New Mexico." 

AFFIDAVIT OF ADOLPH KRAKANER. 

"I am the bookkeeper of S. Schutz & Bro., mer- 
chants at El Paso, Texas, who are also agents of the 
Texas and California Stage Company, of which Louis 
Cardis, deceased, was a sub-contractor, running the 
U. S. mail between this point and Fort Davis, Texas ; 
hence Cardis had more or less transactions with the 
firm and came frequently into the store and office. On 
Wednesday, the loth day of October, 1877, between 2 
and 3 o'clock P. M., Louis Cardis, deceased, came into 
the ofifice, requesting me to write a letter, which he 
wished to send down to Ysleta and San Elezario. He 
(Cardis) took a seat in a rocking chair standing near by, 
with his back turned toward the store door — the main 
entrance of the establishment. While I was writing the 
letter, which occupied my whole attention. Judge 
Charles H. Howard came into the store, and when Mr. 
Jos. Schutz, a member of the firm of S. Schutz & Bro., 
who was sitting at a little table in the office, saw How- 
ard, who had a double-barreled shotgun in his hand, he 
left his seat and walked up toward Howard, saluting him 
in a loud voice, thus : "How do you do. Judge Howard ?" 
This salute caught the attention of Cardis, who was 
yet seated in the rocking chair, and he turned his face 
toward the store door. He (Cardis) seeing Howard, 
left the chair, passed behind me (I was sitting at the 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 147 

desk writing), and took a position behind the high of- 
fice desk. Mr. Schutz, seeing Howard raise his gun, 
in a harsh and exciting tone exclaimed : "Krakaner, 
come away from there !" I at once dropped the pen, 
got up from the office chair and was by no means slow 
in trying to reach the door. While I passed the place 
where Mr. Schutz stood I heard the latter say: "Don't 
shoot here. Judge ; respect my house and my family." 
The moment I reached the door I heard the discharge 
of a gun and another one following in quick succession. 
Howard left the store at once, walking slowly down the 
street toward his house. When I went back into the 
office I found Cardis lying dead at the same place (be- 
hind the high desk), where I left him a few seconds pre- 
viously alive. The desk behind which Cardis sought 
protection did only cover the upper part of his body; 
from the navel down to his feet his body was exposed 
to Howard. The latter, standing behind a showcase 
about forty feet from the place where Cardis stood, fired 
the first shot under the desk, the balls (buckshot) taking 
effect in the abdomen ; Cardis then staggered, exposed 
his breast and received Howard's second shot in the 
heart. 

"The time elapsed between my leaving the desk and 
the firing of the first shot was but a few seconds. There 
was not a word spoken between Howard and Cardis. 
When Cardis' body was removed from the place where 
he fell his pistol was found in the scabbard and was 
cocked. 

*T omitted to state that to my knowledge Howard 
had not been in the store for a period of about nine 
months prior to this shooting afifray. 

"El Paso, Texas, January 31st, 1878. 

"A. Krakaner." 



148 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

Howard again fled to New Mexico, and on October 
25th wrote the Governor again about the terrible "mob" 
in El Paso County, the peril of all Americans, and closed 
by saying: *'If the Governor don't help us I am going 
to bushwhacking." He forgot that during the whole 
trouble he had been the only man who had shed any 
blood. 

Howard returned to El Paso early in December. 
Lieut. John B. Tays was then in command of about 
twenty State troops (Rangers) then in El Paso County. 
Tays was a foreigner, an alien and a bitter partisan. 
I quote the opening lines of Tays' report of the bloody 
tragedies which followed, in order that the reader may 
have some idea of the lieutenant's conception of his 
duty. He says : "By request of Mr. Howard I sent an 
escort to El Paso on the 13th inst., as he wished to come 
to San Elezario on business. He rode down to San 
Elezario in the ranks." If "all Americans" were in dan- 
ger, why was one man only selected to be protected by 
the Rangers? 

Howard had tempted fate too far, and his day had 
come. But the bloody sequel shall be told in the lan- 
guage of another. Capt. Thos. Blair of the United 
States army, was on the ground with a detachment of 
regular soldiers, but to "interfere in the domestic af- 
fairs of a sovereign State" would offend the political sen- 
sibilities of many. 

(President Cleveland was later on repudiated by his 
party for interfering with the pastime of a mob at Chi- 
cago.) 

True, Governor Hubbard had had the good sense to 
call on President Hayes for assistance, and it had been 
granted, but unfortunately the order had not yet reached 
the Captain. Captain Blair, in his official report, says : 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 14.9 

"As soon as Howard arrived in San Elezario the 
town was surrounded by a cordon of armed men (Mex- 
icans) and pickets posted on all roads. As soon as Tays 
saw the state of affairs he and his party retreated to 
their quarters (which was a detached building with 
corral) and barricaded the doors and windows and cut 
port-holes in the walls. On Thursday morning the fir- 
ing began, and continued with but few intermissions 
until the Rangers surrendered on Monday forenoon. 
Mr. Ellis, a merchant, was the first one killed ; that was 
on Wednesday night. When the tumult began he went 
out to find out what it was, and not stopping when 
halted by one of their sentinels, was shot. Afterward 
his throat was cut and his body throw^n intO' a acequia. 
On Thursday morning Sergeant Mortimer, of the Rang- 
ers, was killed while making his way to the building 
where the others were posted. The Rangers consisted 
of just twenty men, I believe. With them in the build- 
ing were Howard and his colored servant, Mr. Atkin- 
son, a merchant of San Elezario, a Mr. Loomis from 
Fort Stockton, I believe, and Mrs. Campbell, the wife 
of one of the Rangers, and her two children. After 
hearing that I had been inside Mrs. Marsh and Mrs. 
Campbell went down from El Paso on Sunday morn- 
ing. Mrs. Marsh got out her son, who was with the 
Rangers, but the Mexicans disarmed him and retained 
him prisoner. Mrs. Campbell got out her daughter-in- 
law and her two children. The Ranger party on Mon- 
day found that they could not hold out much longer, 
the men were being overcome by sleep, and under a 
flag of truce went out and had a talk with the leaders, 
who told them if they would give up Howard it was all 
they wanted. This he refused to do. They then said 
that if Howard would come out he could soon make 



150 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

arrangements by which it would be all right. Tays re- 
turned and told him so, but told him also not to go 
unless he wanted to do so, that he would defend him 
to the last man. Howard returned with Lieutenant 
Tays to the leaders. However, after some talk they 
asked Tays to leave Howard to them and go into an- 
other room, which he refused to do, whereupon he was 
seized by about a dozen men and carried out and then 
found that all his party had surrendered at the insti- 
gation of Atkinson (it is said). 

"During the afternoon Howard, Atkinson and 
McBride, Howard's agent, were all taken out and shot. A 
strong efifort was made by the more violent of the party, 
and by those from the other side, to have all the Amer- 
icans shot, but Chico Barela opposed this (it), said 
there had been enough blood shed, and that only after 
they had killed him could any more Americans be killed. 
Tuesday forenoon they were released, each one having 
his horse returned to him, but their arms were retained. 
Some of the Rangers with whom I have talked inform 
me they were all asked whether they were employed by 
the Governor of Texas or by Howard, and then each 
one was required to sign a blank paper. They were 
escorted as far as Sorocco by a guard. 

"The mob is estimated by Lieutenant Tays at not less 
than five hundred, many of the leaders being from the 
other side. The loss was five Americans killed and at 
least one Mexican, belonging to a party under Captain 
Garcia, who tried to assist the Americans. The losses 
on the side of the mob are unknown, but at least five 
or six are known to have been killed and a large num- 
ber, not less than forty or fifty, wounded." 

During the siege Captain Blair held several confer- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 



151 



enccs with the Mexican leaders, which he relates as 

follows : 

"I found the people much excited over the fact that 
Howard, who had taken a life, was permitted to go at 
large, while two of their number who had only said that 
they would go for salt to his 'salinas' had been arrested, 
tried and sentenced to imprisonment. They said How- 
ard had killed their friend Cardis, and they would have 
his hfe, cost what it might. I found their force to con- 
sist of about three hundred and fifty sober, well-organ- 
ized, well-armed, determined men, with a definite pur- 
pose. Howard they wanted, nothing less, nothing else. 
I told them I thought they would regret their course, 
that for Howard personally I cared nothing, but I would 
be sorry if anything happened to Lieutenant Tays. Yes, 
they said, but why was he defending Howard?" 

The object for which the Mexicans had armed and 
assembled being accompHshed, they disbanded, seeking 
no more blood. They killed Howard because he had 
killed Cardis, their friend and leader. They had known 
Atkinson for fifteen years, and they killed him on gen- 
eral principles. 

The kilHng of McBride was inexcusable murder. 
ElHs, the merchant, was, I bdieve, murdered by some 
personal enemy who took advantage of the turbulence 
to gratify private vengeance. Sergeant Mortimer, the 
only ranger who lost his life, was killed in the fight. 
Five were killed in all. All the other unfortunates were 
citizens who had exasperated the people by voluntarily 
attaching themselves to Howard's fortunes. There were 
some Mexicans, many or few, from the Mexican side 
of the river, who came as the commission report, "some 
to fight and some to steal," but there was no ''organized 



152 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

invasion." Considerable property was taken or de- 
stroyed, but the object of the uprising was always clearly 
stated, and that object was not plunder. 

The good feeling which has usually existed between 
the two races in the valley was soon restored, and no 
one has ever been punished for participation in this 
deplorable emente. 

THE AFTER MATH. 

It is not pleasant to have to write of what occurred 
after the mob had dispersed, and therefore I will be 
brief. The regular force of Rangers had behaved well 
and obeyed orders, but now Governor Hubbard ordered 
that an additional force should be recruited at Silver 
City, New Mexico, to assist the authorities and restore 
order in El Paso County. About thirty came. Of these 
the Judge Advocate General of the Army reviewing the 
testimony says : 

**Many outrages were committed on innocent people 
in the neighborhood during the excitement, but of these 
not a few were perpetrated by members of the State 
force raised in New Mexico under authority of the 
Governor of Texas. These last seem especially to be 
responsible for the rapes, homicides and other crimes 
of which the people justly complain." 

The United States Commissioners, Colonels King and 
Lewis, before whom all the testimony was given, say: 

"On December 22d, another small force of about thirty 
men arrived from Silver City, who had been called into 
temporary service under telegraphic instructions from 
the Governor, but unhappily, as was natural and accord- 
ing to experience in raising volunteers along the border, 
when the exigencies of the occasion does not permit 
that delay which a wise discrimination in the choice of 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 153 

material would cause, the force of Rangers thus suddenly 
called together contained within its ranks an adven- 
turous and lawless element, which, though not predom- 
inant, was yet strong enough to make its evil influence 
felt in deeds of violence and outrage matched only by 
the mob itself. Notable among these atrocities should 
be classed the shooting of two Mexican prisoners, who 
were bound with cords when turned over to the guard 
at Ysleta, ostensibly to bury the bodies of Howard, 
Atkinson and McBride, then lying in the fields of San 
Elizario, and when next seen^ about an hour after, were 
pierced with bullet holes, their appearance giving rise 
to grave apprehension in unprejudiced minds that their 
death was 'neither necessary nor justifiable.' Another 
was the killing of the Mexican and the wounding of his 
wife in a house in Socorro, through the door of which 
a shot had, it was said, been fired, and, being a spent 
ball, had struck without hurting one of the Rangers 
belonging to Lieutenant Tays' company. On a personal 
examination by the board of all the outside doors of the 
house, there could be found no marks of a bullet-hole, 
but through an inner door, across the 'Sala,' behind 
which the unfortunate victim had received his death and 
his wife a serious wound, were counted no less than 
fifteen bullet-holes, piercing the door from the outside, 
and none merging from the inner side. These are re- 
garded by the Board as wanton outrages." 

These Rangers, like the leaders of the mob, escaped 
punishment. 



THE BLOODY REIGN OF MARSHAL STUDE- 

MEIER. 

Twenty years ago, with the coming of the first rail- 
roads to El Paso, there came also many bad men, and 
our mayor and city fathers concluded in their wisdom 
that they must have a city marshal who would be "bader 
en anybody," and they succeeded beyond their most 
sanguine expectations. They imported one Dallas 
Studemeier, and installed him in that office. 

His coming, if we can trace human events back to 
their causes, cost the lives of half a dozen men, his 
own included. The supplanted marshal, a Mr. Johnson, 
was the first victim. He was killed one night on San 
Antonio street, near its junction with El Paso, "by 
parties unknown," as was said at the time. No one 
dared ask why or by whom he was killed. 

Studemeier brought with him a brother-in-law, one 
''Doc" Cummings, a man of his own ilk. Soon the 
Studemeier-Cummings party became involved in a 
quarrel with the four Manning brothers, who resided 
here at the time, and Cummings was killed by Jim 
Manning in a fight. 

It is enough to say that Manning was fairly tried and 
acquitted on a plea of self-defense. 

In the Bosquies above El Paso there were several 
parties of cowboys, both American and Mexican, some 
of whom were, no doubt, looking after their own cattle, 
while others were certainly looking after other people's 
cattle. One morning the bodies of two young Mexi- 
cans from Juarez were found dead at their camp near 

154 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 155 

Canutilla, sixteen miles above El Paso. They had been 
recently shot. The Mexicans of Juarez asked permis- 
sion to send an armed party to take home the bodies, 
and they passed through El Paso. With them went a 
young German named Kramkauer, a stranger in El 
Paso, but who we afterward learned was a good man, 
and he certainly was a brave man. 

On their return, this party of about thirty armed men 
halted on El Paso street, appearing angry but making 
no threats or hostile demonstrations, but Kramkauer 
did not hesitate when questioned to say that the signs 
at the Mexican's camp clearly showed that the two 
young Mexicans had been surprised while preparing 
their breakfast and assassinated. This was too much for 
the American cowboys and their friends who had col- 
lected on the street, and for a time I feared a conflict 
between them and the thirty armed Mexicans, which I 
knew would be a bloody affair, and therefore interceded 
to prevent it. But the Mexican party sullenly moved 
south on El Paso street, and halted when about half way 
to the river. Now the wrath of the American party was 
turned toward Kramkauer, who remained on El Paso 
street, near the head of San Antonio, and one Campbell, 
of whose history or character I know but little, but who 
appeared to be the spokesman of the party, called on 
Kramkauer to retract what he had said. Kramkauer quiet- 
ly but firmly refused, saying that he had stated only the 
truth. I was standing near these two men, and was 
surprised at the low, protesting, almost pleading tone 
of voice in which they spoke to each other. Both were 
sober, both were brave. The marshal, Studemeier, was 
standing near me and them, but spoke no word. Others 
soon gathered about us, but the young German was 
without friends. I believe these two men might not 



156 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

have fought, but Johnnie Hale, who was intoxicated, 
called out: 'Turn her loose, Campbell; damn 'em, turn 
her loose," and drew his pistol. Studemeier, who stood 
within four feet of Hale, shot him in the back of the 
head, and Hale fell and died in a few moments. Camp- 
bell and Kramkauer fired simultaneously at each other, 
both shots taking efifect. Each fired several times. 
Campbell fell, and the German staggered to the wall, 
and, leaning against it with his smoking pistol still in 
his hand, said, "I will fight till I die," and he died soon. 
Campbell lingered till the next morning, and died. 

A second shot fired by Studemeier accidentally killed 
a Mexican who happened to be passing down the street. 
I do not know who Studemeier was shooting at then, 
and I don't believe he knew himself. Less than ten 
seconds time passed between the first shot and the last 
one, but four men were killed ! Two of the three par- 
ticipants in the above affray having killed each other, 
and Studemeier having killed two men "on the side," 
as it were, he became a hero with the rabble and a terror 
to the more thoughtful of the city officials, who sought 
to get rid of him. But it is sometimes easier to catch 
such a man than it is to let him go. I found a way. 

I was deputy United States marshal at the time, and 
at the next meeting of the council I presented a tele- 
gram from the United States marshal of New Mexico, 
stating that Studemeier had accepted an appointment 
as his deputy, thereby vacating the office of city marshal, 
and the city council declared it vacant. An alderman 
immediately nominated Studemeier to succeed himself, 
and Alderman Hague nominated the writer of these 
pages. The vote stood four and four, and then the 
mayor, to the surprise of many, gave the casting vote 
to Studemeier! One night, soon after the above occur- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 157 

rences, I went to a public meeting at the old Central 
hotel, and in the hall, in the presence of many people, 
Studemeier accosted and cursed and threatened to kill 
me, and called on me to defend myself. I was unarmed, 
and so informed him. He then produced two pistols, 
and generously offered to loan me one, but I had seen 
that trick played before, and I told him that as he and 
I were not good friends I did not feel like accepting 
a favor from him, and he went away. I went home and 
armed myself and returned to the meeting and met 
Studemeier, but nothing more was said or done. This 
was the last time, so far as I know, when I have been 
in any great peril from my fellow men— unless from 
their tongues. 

There are probably as many Davids as Goliaths, 

and this desperado was about to meet his David 

and his death. Dr. Manning was small of stature, 
modest in deportment, devoted to his family and 
his profession, and as to fighting, his disposition is well 
described in the words of the old negro, ''Mammy," in 
speaking of her old master. She said, "Colonel Purdue 
want no man to go about hunting for no fuss, but if 
anybody brought a fuss to him and laid it in his lap, 
he would nuss it and coddle it and try to keep it from 
ketchen cold." 

Studemeier gathered his few followers about him and 
announced that he was going to meet the Mannings and 
make peace or ''have it out." 

The meeting was at the old stand. Uncle Ben. Dowell's 
saloon. A peace was patched up, and of course some 
drinks were taken, and then all left except the marshal 
and Dr. Manning. Suddenly Studemeier found some 
pretext for anger, and, drawing his pistol, suddenly fired 
at Manning's heart. The bullet missed its mark but 



158 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

wounded the doctor in one hand (the other hand had 
been crippled in a former fight), yet the httle man 
grappled the large one with one hand and with the 
other drew his pistol, and in an instant the giant lay 
dying on the ground! 

This shall be my last story of bloodshed. I was fore- 
man of the jury which tried Dr. Manning, and he was 
rendered a verdict of not guilty without leaving the 
box. 




LONGMEIER— A CLOSE CALL. 

In the bad times soon after the coming of the first 
railroad, I returned to El Paso as deputy United States 
marshal, and encountered many strangers, and was 
called to the custom house to appraise some liquor 
which had been smuggled by one Longmeier. Although 
I had nothing to do with the seizure of the liquor, 
Longmeier thought I had, or else he thought it no harm 
to kill a deputy marshal, anyhow. 

That night, while sitting at supper with my back to 
a window which opened on the common (which window 
had a hanging curtain), I heard the landlord call from 
the outside : "Mills, get your pistol ; a man is going to 
kill you." The landlord, John Woods, colored (who 
was afterwards killed by a policeman), had found Long- 
meier crouched at the window, pistol in hand, trying to 
find an opening through the curtain, and when asked 
what he was doing, replied that he was going to kill the 
d — n deputy marshal. 

Longmeier fled and went to Silver City, and was soon 
after killed by a man of his own class. 



159 



A HOLD UP. 

Soon after the above incident, I went one night about 
9 o'clock to call for my wife, who was visiting some 
friends near McGoffin's place. As I walked unarmed 
and with my overcoat thrown over my shoulder, I heard 
and saw a man walking suspiciously behind me, and 
determined to watch him, but as he followed a different 
street at a junction I dismissed him from my mind. 
Suddenly he sprang from the bushes about fifteen feet 
from the road, with a very large pistol directed at me, 
and the following dialogue ensued : 

He— ''Halt ! Your money or your life." 
I_"My friend, I haven't a damn cent." 

He ''Er, er. Hold up your hands." 

I did as requested. 

He— "Ain't you got no jewelry nor nothin'?" 
I__"I told you no." 
He— "I beUeve you are a d— n liar." 
I_"Aint it bad enough to be broke without being 
insulted about it?" 

He— "I've a damn notion to kill you, any how." 
I_"I am afraid you will. You don't intend to kill 
me, but that pistol is pointed right at me, and you are 
nervous and it might go ofif." 

I positively saw that man move his pistol so that, had 
it been discharged, the bullet would have missed me by 
several feet. His voice quivered and I could see him 

tremble. „ 

He— 'Throw ofif that overcoat and step to one side. 

I complied. 

160 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 161 

I — "When you take the coat please take the papers 
from the pocket and leave them in the road." 

More conversation, and then : 

He — "Pick up your coat and walk straight down the 

middle of the road; no bad breaks, now, or by I 

will kill you." 

And though I was never a Populist, I walked that 
night down the "middle of the road." 



One day I passed where two strange roughs were 
evidently critisizing some new comer who they thought 
was claiming honors which did not belong to him. I 
heard one of them say contemptuously : "Calls himself 
the Deadwood Kid ! Why, he's no more the Deadwood 
Kid than I am. Why, the Deadwood Kid has killed half 
a dozen men, an' I don't believe that 'moke' ever killed 
anybody !" 



Early one morning I heard a saloonkeeper talking to 
his friend, evidently about some row he had had the day 
or night before. He said, "Well, no; I don't think I 
was too drunk. Well, I was just about like I am now ; 
and if he had got the best of me I wouldn't have said a 
word. But my own opinion is, I would have gone 
through him p-r-o-p-e-r-l-y." 



The next day after the notorious ex-convict and 
desperado, Wesley Harden, was killed on San Antonio 
street by a worse man than himself, who was a constable 
or something, people, though not sorry at Harden's tak- 
ing ofif, were shocked at the manner of it, but feared to 
condemn the act, because no one knew who would be 
the next victim. I was passing along the street, and a 
merchant friend called to me and said, seriously and in 



11 



162 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

a low tone of voice, "What do you think about this kill- 
ing of Harden?" I placed my hand at the side of my 
mouth and whispered, ''I'll tell you if you say nothing 
about it. I have just been down to the undertakers and 
I saw Harden, and I think — I think he's dead !" I 
believe my friend kept my secret. 



Some years ago my friend, Mr. Park Pitman, now 
(1900) the efficient clerk of El Paso County, was a candi- 
date for a county office on the Democratic ticket, and 
was the only candidate of his party defeated — possibly 
because he was the best man on that ticket. Soon there- 
after, I was a candidate for a city office on the Republic- 
an ticket, and was the only Republican defeated (whether 
we voted for each other or not is nobody's business). 
Soon after my defeat, I met Pitman with a party of 
friends, and I said to him : "Let us mingle our tears." 
He replied, "I am writing a book which is to be entitled, 
'Bleeding Inwardly.' I will compliment you with a 
copy." 



On my return from Washington City, in 1897, my 
friend, Zack White, congratulated me upon my appoint- 
ment as United States Consul at Chihuahua, Mexico, 
and I told him I had been surprised at receiving so many 
congratulations and that I believed most of them sincere. 
He replied, "They are all sincere. It's like this; half 
of the people of this town are your friends, and, like 
me, they are glad of your success, and the other half are 
glad because you are going away. It's unanimous." 

I think a man who makes an "even break" among the 
people of El Paso does fairly well, and I "let it go at 
that." 



The North American Review, November, 1889. 

THE UNION MEN OF THE SOUTH. 

By W. W. Mills. 

In every Southern State at the commencement of the 
rebellion there lived a class of men, prominent and in- 
fluential in political and social life, whose patriotism, 
devotion to principle, wisdom and courage, trials and 
sufferings, have been scarcely touched upon by late writ- 
ers upon the war and its causes and results. Most of 
them were then of mature years; all of them had been 
born and reared in the South and were slave-owners. 
Many of them were Democrats; none of them were then 
Republicans. Most of them were disappointed at the 
election of Mr. Lincoln, and feared that his administra- 
tion and that of the Republican party, which they con- 
sidered sectional and aggressive, would be unfriendly, 
if not actually hostile, to the welfare of their section, 
where their pride, interests, and sympathies were all 
centered. Many of their wives, mothers and daughters 
were Secessionists. Their sons, many of them, were the 
first to enlist in the Confederate ranks. These men 
doubted the policy of secession, and, with a courage and 
manhood which have no parallel, denounced the move- 
ment and predicted its failure and the ruin of the South. 
In so doing they knew that they were courting certain 
political ostracism and defeat, subjecting themselves to 
danger and perhaps to death, and to what was equally 
terrible to men of their pride and character — the chang- 
ing of the love and confidence of their neighbors and 

163 



164 FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 

friends, and even their kindred, into bitter hatred ; and 
yet these men through all those dreary, doubtful years 
of war, some at their homes, some in the mountains, 
some in exile, some in prison and others on the battle- 
field beneath the stars and stripes, never wavered or lost 
hope in the success of the one cause for which they had 
sacrificed and dared so much — the success of the Union 
arms. ^ 

Their voices were never heard among the croakers ; 
when they could not approve the policy of the govern- 
ment, they fought on in silence ; when colored troops 
were enlisted, they faltered not ; when the Emancipation 
Proclam.ation swept away their fortunes, they did not 
complain. The success of one political party or the 
other was no victory to them, except as it indicated the 
determination of the people to preserve the government 
by suppressing the rebellion. They did not regard the 
war, as many writers do, as a "war between the North 
and South," or a "war between the States,^* but a war 
between those everywhere who loved their government 
and those who wished to see it die ; and if their hearts 
were not too full of sadness to harbor bitter feelings, 
those feelings went out toward the Northern "Copper- 
head" rather than toward their misguided or even their 
vicious neighbors. They did not consider it a rebellion 
of State, but a rebellion of rebels. They knew that they 
were sustained in their own section by thousands of 
Southerners as courageous and patriotic as themselves, 
and by hundreds of thousands who, though unable to 
give them active support, were praying for success. 

Next to their devotion to the Union their desire for 
peace, good government in the South through a liberal 
policy by the victorious party was the aim and hope of 
these men. Then came reconstruction and the reorgani- 



FORTY YEARS AT EL PASO. 165 

zation of political parties in the South. It must be 
written that the National Republican party, controlled 
by Northern politicians, in the exercise of its powerful 
political influence and the bestowal of its great patron- 
age, in every Southern State and in almost every instance 
rejected the counsel of these brave and experienced men, 
and sought to build upon three elements only — the negro, 
the carpetbagger, and a few new converts from the Con- 
federate element. This is the only blur upon the other- 
wise magnificent record of that party. 




ENEMIES AND PHILOSOPHY. 

In the summer of 1900 my brother, General Mills, 
and a sister paid Mrs. Mills and myself a visit at the 
United States Consulate at Chihuahua. One evening he, 
being in a reflective mood, said, "Will, you and I have 
had many difficulties, and quarrels and fights with our 
personal enemies, and it is very gratifying to know, as 
I am growing old, that these are all over with me. My 
enemies are all reconciled to me, and I wish you could 
say as much." 

I replied : "I do not know that my enemies are all 
reconciled to me, but they are all dead, and that is better, 
or at least safer." And it is the literal truth. All my 
bitterest foes have been taken hence, most of them by 
violence, and I neither rejoice at nor regret their taking 
of¥. I do not claim that I was always right and they 
always wrong, for I tried to return blow for blow, but 
it is certain that they often resorted to means which I 
would, under no circumstances, employ. Alas, most of 
my friends are gone also. Why I have been spared 
through it all is a mystery which I do not attempt to 
explain. 

A'Dois. 



166 










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